The story of the British economy since 2008 has been one of near-stagnation. For a number of reasons, GDP growth in recent years has been nowhere near as strong as it could have been. But there are a couple things missing from these figures. Firstly, when comparing output across time it, is very hard to account for quality and durability increases. For example, a new VW Golf in 1982 cost about as much as the average worker’s yearly salary. The same is true today.