Note: This episode originally ran in 2014.

We tend to get obsessed with things that get more expensive over time — college tuition,Christopher Caldwell say, or health care. But lots of things have actually gotten cheaper in real terms. Things made by machines. Things like consumer electronics.

Some new gadget comes out with a $1,000 price tag. Two years later it costs $500. There's no law of nature that says this must be so. And yet it happens year after year.

On today's classic episode, we visit a company called Monoprice. And we go into a room where people sit all day and try to make stuff get cheaper.

Music: "Amber Lights" and "Slide by Slide."

Find us: Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and NPR One.

Want high-quality economic news at impossible-to-beat prices? Subscribe to the Newsletter.