Are Cars Too Expensive?

The time price of a new Nissan Versa is 12.5% less than a 1924 Ford Model T.

In 1924 you could buy a new Ford Model T for $260. Today a new Nissan Versa costs $16,290. While the Versa is more expensive it is also much more affordable. Why? Because hourly wages have increased faster than prices. In 1924 blue-collar hourly compensation (wages and benefits) was around 51 cents an hour. The new Ford would cost around 510 hours. Blue-collar workers today are earning closer to $36.50 an hour. This puts the Nissan time price at 446 hours. You save 64 hours. The time price has declined by 12.5 percent. For the time it took to earn the money to buy one Model T in 1924 you get 1.14 Versas today.

But this is only a small part of the story. Cars today are faster, safer, and more comfortable, powerful, and reliable than ever in history. Creative entrepreneurs and free markets give consumers great choices and prices.

The Model T was a great innovation in its day. From 1908 to 1924 the price fell from $850 to $260 as Henry Ford and his team moved up the learning curve with massive volumes. Every time he made another car he learned something new that was then translated into lower prices, higher wages, and greater profits. Ford recognized that knowledge is our key resource and transforms atoms and ideas into value. Since there is no limit to the new knowledge we can discover, our resources can be infinite. Find a learning curve and enjoy the knowledge discovery experience for yourself. We can help the human race flourish with the freedom to innovate and create value for one another. This is truly what economics is about.

We describe the process of transforming scarcities to abundances in our new book, Superabundance, available at Amazon. There has never been a better time to create more life.

Gale Pooley is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute and a board member at Human Progress.