Why have the prices of natural resources gone up when we have more efficient methods of gathering them then we did 100 years ago?

Question

Why do things like wood and gas go up over the years when the world has developed way better methods and equipment for gathering and refining them?

In: 0

Answer 1

While we have better methods, we’ve already harvested/mined the best/easiest sources so have to travel further, deal with more other materials, harvest more, smaller trees, etc. Also, overall inflation has caused price in actual dollars to go up, but relative to other costs may have gone down. And there are also more costs like living/union wages for miners and loggers, expensive machinery, global transportation.