Over the years, I’ve written for numerous print publications and websites. Here are some of my favorite articles.


Two grocery giants want to merge. Why is the FTC so concerned? Washington Post, October 17, 2024

What Is a Supermarket? New York Review of Books, June 14, 2024

The Decline of Stuff, The Globe and Mail, May 25, 2024

Political Capitalism, Business History Review, Spring 2023

The FTC May Crack Down on Price Discrimination. Will It Matter? Washingtonpost.com, May 23, 2023

A fourth globalisation, Aeon, August 12, 2021

The Stuck Container Ship on the Suez Canal Was a Metaphor, New York Times, April 1, 2021

We’ve entered into a new era of globalization — no matter what Joe Biden does, Washingtonpost.com, December 4, 2020

The Megaships that Broke Global Trade, Wall Street Journal, October 23, 2020

The Now-Ubiquitous Shipping Container Was an Idea Before Its Time, Smithsonianmag.com, June 16, 2017 

Can Amazon Be the Next Apple? New York Times, June 20, 2017

Is Slow Productivity Growth Here to Stay? Foreign Affairs, June 12, 2017

End of a golden age, Aeon, February 22, 2017

Every U.S. president promises to boost economic growth. The catch: no one knows how. Vox, December 22, 2016

The Problem with the U.S. Economy Isn’t Something Politicians Can Fix, Harvard Business Review, November 29, 2016

Why the Economy Doesn’t Roar Anymore, The Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2016

Abandon ShipForeign Affairs, October 5, 2016

The Industrial Revolution that Never Was,” HBR.com, July 18, 2014

When Creative Destruction Visited the Mom-and-Pops,” The Wall Street Journal, October 11, 2013

First U.S. Bank Regulations May Look Strikingly Familiar,” Bloomberg.com, February 25, 2013

Why the 1913 Garment-Worker Strike Was Among the Oddest Ever,” Bloomberg.com, January 15, 2013

Why Woodrow Wilson Wooed Shoppers,” Bloomberg.com, September 26, 2012

How the Postal Service Revolutionized Retailing,” Bloomberg.com, August 23, 2012

The Year that Changed Retailing Forever,” Bloomberg.com, May 15, 2012

How New York Lost the Apparel Business,” Bloomberg.com, April 18, 2012

Why Retailers Don’t Recover from Bankruptcy,” Bloomberg.com, March 7, 2012

Don’t Grieve for the Great A&P,” HBR.org, January 30, 2012

Imagining a World Without Chain Stores,” The Washington Post, June 10, 2011

Japan’s Disaster and the Manufacturing Meltdown,” ForeignAffairs.com, April 17, 2011

So Much for All This Summitry,” Reuters, June 24, 2010

Financial Reform Gives Insurance a Free Ride,” Reuters, June 21, 2010

Faulty Basel: Why More Diplomacy Won’t Keep the Financial System Safe,” Foreign Affairs, May-June, 2010

Freight Pain: The Rise and Fall of Globalization, Foreign Affairs, November-December 2008

How a Box Transformed the World,” Financial Times, April 24, 2006