Hacker News Reader

The wikipedia article you linked quotes a source which directly contradicts what you are saying. From: https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/dawn-of-electronics/t...

> Their lightbulbs were of a higher quality, more efficient, and brighter burning than other bulbs. They also cost a lot more. Indeed, all evidence points to the cartel’s being motivated by profits and increased sales, not by what was best for the consumer.

It would have been straightforward for them to manufacture higher voltage, less brighter lamps with a longer lifespan. They didn't.

> human brightness perception

In how many uses cases is anything other than perceived brightness relevant?

Increased costs to provide something the consumer doesn't want is exactly the kind of thing competition is likely to reduce.

The market doesn't always work but it's also very hard to determine what is wrong and how to fix it. If market equilibrium leads to destroying the ozone, it's easy. But if the market means fewer lumens per dollar (or even per joule), that is less obviously bad.

> Unfortunately of 3 categories of information needed for an informed decision (lifetime, power usage, and light output) purchasers only had a good measure of how often they replaced bulbs.

I may be dating myself, but I have never in my entire life seen a light bulb sold without the wattage displayed front and center. It is by far a more accessible metric than when it dies, by which time I have long forgotten where in time immemorial I bought that particular bulb.

Yes I don't remember the lifetime of bulbs. Except for some pathological examples. So really the only thing we have is power usage which does correlate somewhat with light output.

They could have printed electricity costs on the packages. Instead they artificially limited competition. That doesn't sound like they had anyone's interests but their own in mind.

Incandescent bulbs are labeled and classified by their electricity consumption. It's literally in the product description: 40W bulb, 60W bulb, 100W bulb, etc.

Cost is based on both consumption and efficiency, not consumption alone because with a more efficient bulb you can illuminate a given area with fewer bulbs.

The cartel disbanded in 1939. Were the bulbs labeled and classified by power consumption before then?

you need to know watts and lumens. It's not rocket science.

Ah yes, how good for the consumer it is to collude to increase prices and offer zero competition.

You sound like a Canadian dairy farmer :)

Shut up and drink your bag of milk

i kept it at room temperature for 3 months and it already went bad. Merde I’m going back to France.

In this case, it actually was. That's what makes it such an interesting study. Anyone who touts the Phoebus Cartel as evidence of cartels being good is an idiot, of course.

The price-fixing aspects, not so much, lol.

An argument that the Phoebus Cartel was actually working in the interests of the general public? I'm impressed.

Well it’s possible for the unintended consequences of an action to more than cancel out the intended consequences.

I’m sure they were doing it for the greater good of the consumer...