Well the older bulbs (incandescent) would output a more visible natural light that has wavelengths similar to the sun. If you google led fluorescent incandescent and sun light and click images you will see the the difference in outputs. Sunlight being the best and incandescent very similar.

The saving in watts is because led and fluorescent lights have sharp limited wavelengths. Our eyes haven't evolved properly for this so can irritate or sometimes cause damage as pupils will dilate or constrict accordingly or may fail to do so as it is not getting its appropriate input. (Some sunglasses can be damaging due to this)

Our skin uses light also and some believe our organs using the more deeper penetrable wavelengths. Repair etc

Think plants also.

But for just visual sake, it is much better to have a broad balanced light spectrum as opposed to a few sharp concentrated waves.

A better idea is just to do your calculation on an incandescent 60w on today's wages (or ounce of gold)  vs the past.

We have made things a bit better in some areas like automotive travel being more efficient so maybe an interesting calculation is how many hours of wages (or ounces of gold) to travel 60 miles vs the past.

If cars have become more efficient due to technology, has society benefited? Or was this stolen through inflation? Try find cars with similar brake horse power.