Promoting the growth of high quality goods and the phasing out of shoddy products

Conventional economic growth actually measures throughput, not accumulated wealth, as conventional growth measurements do not take account of the short life of goods and the loss to the economy when they are discarded. This article argues that society should be seeking growth in the quality of goods and services. This change from quantity to quality is necessary because Western industrialised economies are already consuming beyond the planet's carrying capacity. To improve the quality of goods we need to change taxation, regulation and culture so it is financially and culturally attractive to make and possess high quality goods which have a long life, and to correspondingly phase out low quality products. This can be done by ensuring goods keep their value when secondhand, introducing legislation to ensure goods are repairable, and strengthening existing 'fit for purpose' legislation. This article builds on the work of McLaren, Bullock and Yousef and others.