Blog

  • After the Age of Stuff

    The last few decades, during which long value chains have reshaped the world economy, have been notable for one characteristic above all: a rapidly improving material standard of living.  In…

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  • The Next Retail Revolution

    Brooks Brothers. Lord & Taylor. J.Crew. Ann Taylor. Sur la Table. Lucky Brand. J.C. Penney. Neiman Marcus. GNC. A long list of retail names has ended up in bankruptcy court…

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  • My Adventures in Self-Publishing

    When my book The Great A&P was published back in 2011, a major commercial publisher handled the copy editing, the design, the printing, and the distribution. My main jobs were…

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  • The Post-Zoom World

    In March, as much of the country was shutting down to slow the spread of COVID-19, I attended an annual conference. Instead of meeting in Charlotte, our association convened on…

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  • Megamess

    The world economy, as you may have noticed, hasn’t been doing so well of late. Economic growth was slowing and international trade languishing even before COVID-19 swept across the globe.…

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  • No, the Coronavirus Won’t Kill Off Globalization

    The spread of COVID-19 has brought much commentary about the impending end of globalization. While the virus has indisputably disrupted the world economy, I think that many of the claims…

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