When the price of something drops, its perceived value often drops too.
A cheaper product can feel less special. Less desirable. Even if it’s better engineered, more efficient, or more sustainable.
This creates a strange paradox. Innovating to make things cheaper—whether through sustainability or efficiency—can backfire. Because as the price lowers, people care less. They assume less value.
But there’s a twist. Once something becomes so cheap, like the bargains in a budget store, it suddenly appeals again. Not because of its quality, but because of its affordability. Cheap becomes its own value.
The real problem here is how to build an incentive structure that drives innovation—especially sustainable innovation—without undermining the perceived value of the result.
How do we reward efficiency, while ensuring people still want the outcome?
That’s the wicked problem of price and value.