The current financial model and systems fail to factor in the true value, or cost of something, which I have a bit of a hypothesis on.
Cost of Raw Material + Cost of Energy + Cost of Labour + Cost of Logistics + Cost of Eventual Disposal / Upkeep / Replacement = True Cost.
There's probably some logistical elements of that chain I'm missing there.
Items (whether they be food stuff, a video game, or a house) - should be priced appropriately in order to account for quality, sustainable inputs at every element that makes up the true cost of an object.
By outsourcing, the liability, or true cost is simply shifted elsewhere (be that pollutant, labour cost, or other elements) - which as we've seen, is not very sustainable.
I don't know much about economics, but I find the work that actuaries do unreasonably satisfying as they seem to grasp this concept of the "true cost" of things.
That's pretty much how global economies worked till we discovered that irresistible drug - debt.
You're absolutely right that the "hidden costs" are not being accounted for. Things like workers' mental health, pollution implacts etc must need to be priced in. We'll need a new form of economics to achieve this.
Debt too, has a true cost, as we're starting to see as one person can't service it, the chain of events beyond start to unravel in all elements of the economy.
Very true