This is a dumb topic, but does anyone have any tips on how to price in quality? Like not in a "libertarian geopolitical economics" sense, but in a "personal home economics" sense?
E.g., I got these two pair of undershirts. One was half the price of the other. The half-priced ones lasted like a half year before they tore themselves to shreds. The others have lasted me years. This example isn't important to me, I'm just using it as something simple to drive the discussion.
The first issue in determining quality is the knowledge asymmetry. I later learned "why" the other undershirts performed better (the higher priced undershirts had double folded hems, thicker stitching in the shoulders, etc.), but I would've liked to figure out a way to intuit this without needing to have a more intimate knowledge of sewing than the 0 knowledge I had before. Sewing is not exactly a fascinating topic for me.
It's not just the knowledge asymmetry that's an issue. I also would've like to have a sense of 'how much' the quality should've impacted the price in my head. Like if I held up the two garments and thought, "This is twice as much, but will last eight times as long," then I'd immediately have a sense of how to "price in" that quality. I don't have a way to get a sense of "it will last 8 times as long," though. Moreover, for a coat you might not care about that (you care about warmth, insulation, rain resistance, etc.). How do you balance those sorts of things in your personal decisions?
I know "Consumer Reports" is often thrown around in libertarian circles, but have any of you personally read that magazine? I know UL is another item held up, but there's another knowledge asymmetry that occurs with those sort of professional organization labels: how do you know about them? Brand recognition is another way, but in the example I give above, both packages were Hanes.