02-20-2007, 04:12 PM
From NY Times article by Teresa Tritch on behavioral economics, "Helping People Help Themselves," Feb. 14:
"Might it be useful to require companies to show the full estimated cost of owning a product, rather than the cost of buying it? Take the Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 3747 Color Inkjet printer, for example, which retails for $29.99, The Harvard economist, David Laibson, recently calculated that the printer's four-year cost is $2,400, when you include ink for about 20 black and white copies a day. Should that information be prominently disclosed?"
"Might it be useful to require companies to show the full estimated cost of owning a product, rather than the cost of buying it? Take the Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 3747 Color Inkjet printer, for example, which retails for $29.99, The Harvard economist, David Laibson, recently calculated that the printer's four-year cost is $2,400, when you include ink for about 20 black and white copies a day. Should that information be prominently disclosed?"