[ElevenLathe]

I know what you mean, but I think we can say for sure that it's definitely not globally optimal to produce durable goods (of any kind) that are half the cost but a quarter the lifespan. Half price for half utility is fine, but half price for a quarter utility is just pure waste -- even if you don't need the tool for 1000 hours, you can resell it to somebody who will use it for the next 970 hours (or the next 30, after which they sell it again). There are transaction costs here which make it a little more complex, but in a society where this was common, they would be driven down by scale -- more pawn and consignment shops would pop up, culture would teach people how the process works, etc. (By the way, there are also extra transaction costs for the people who need 1000 hours of tool time but have to buy it 30 hours at a time.)

Any system that encourages this behavior (i.e the one we have) is obviously not a winning system.