Brad DeLong quotes Dean Baker claiming that the new goods bias applies only to rich people:
Most of the drop in snow blowers’ prices took place before the middle class began to buy them. This drop provided a gain to those who already were buying snow blowers, but it provided zero gain to those who found them too expensive to be worth their money….
‘zero gain’? So if I couldn’t afford to buy a snowblower yesterday, and had to shovel my driveway by hand, whereas now I -can- afford to buy a snowblower, and I don’t have to shovel my driveway by hand, I haven’t gained anything?
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