It’s a sad but undeniable truth: Some of the most profitable products in the world are terrible. This realization came to me when I was working in the Lex section of the Financial Times and learned that the most effective pharmaceutical drugs – for manufacturers, and even for patients – were those that alleviated symptoms but did not cure not the disease. Eliminate the problem and you kill demand. Where is the financial incentive in that?

Oddly enough, light bulbs are another example of the same phenomenon. Why develop eternal bulbs (the Centennial bulb has been working continuously in a California fire station since 1901) when you can sell bulbs that explode periodically? Economic theory suggests that these inefficiencies should be eliminated. Real life doesn’t always work that way.