But I don’t think anyone would seriously contest the idea that difficulty of reproduction is an important factor which drives price. The question is more whether there are “many” top-in-class experiences which you can only have via difficult-to-reproduce things.
Agreed.
Cars, phones, laptops, doctors, shoes, clothing, watches, jewelry, haircuts, makeup (both the physical makeup you might buy, and the attention of a professional to apply it really well), pillows, mattresses, chairs, yards/parks, gold, silver, bitcoin, …
Most of the examples you mention seem like they’re conspicuous consumption/about status signaling. However, I think the category of comfort (pillows, mattresses, chairs) is a good one. As for phones and laptops, I personally think that a big part of that is status signaling, and unless you’re doing something intense like video editing, I don’t think that using the best computer in the world would be much of a better experience than a Macbook.
Agreed.
Most of the examples you mention seem like they’re conspicuous consumption/about status signaling. However, I think the category of comfort (pillows, mattresses, chairs) is a good one. As for phones and laptops, I personally think that a big part of that is status signaling, and unless you’re doing something intense like video editing, I don’t think that using the best computer in the world would be much of a better experience than a Macbook.