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What counts
It’s not because it can be expressed in numbers, that it necessarily matters
Are you concerned about efficiency? I bet you are: you probably don’t go all the way to the supermarket just for one jar of mayonnaise, and the next day for one box of tissues. You probably also don’t put the washing machine on just for one pair of underpants, but wait until the laundry basket is full. It almost goes without saying.
The efficient use of scarce resources like time, space and money is fundamental to human behaviour, and (wait for it) a central economics concept. It’s what has been helping us improve our lives for many centuries. But wait: are you really that efficient with, say, the space in your home? If you are an average Australian, your average house provides a very generous 89 m2 per occupant. An average American or Canadian would have respectively 77 m2 and 72 m2 at their disposal. An average Dutch person can still wander around in 65 m2; an average Belgian should be content with about 45 m2. And that is still three times the with which an average Hongkonger must make do.
