The COVID-19 crisis is already dramatically reshaping our economy, at a macro and micro level.

From a macroeconomic standpoint, the next few months will be a culling of the herd. Businesses in some key industries that have invested in digital transformation will come out of this crisis stronger, both from having seen their core revenue streams grow and having seen some of their competitors dry up. We’ll also see some of the biggest players get bigger: Big Tech will consolidate its foothold on American life; Amazon will accelerate its takeover of small businesses around the country.

EconomicsCaleb GardnerMarch 24, 2020Economics, Technology

Diary of a Viral Apocalypse

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around how I’m feeling, as we watch this slow motion viral apocalypse unfolding. If I’m honest with myself, I’m scared for the future—not just for myself and my family, and the impact an economic crash could have on us, but for my parents and in-laws’ health, for my friends who have been laid off already, and more generally for the impact this is going to have on the most vulnerable around us—and because I don’t know what tomorrow holds, how bad this is truly going to get, I’m constantly anxious.

PersonalCaleb GardnerMarch 19, 2020Personal, Economics

The consequences of scale

Consider three recent examples of the unintended consequences of scale:

All of these situations are predictable and preventable.

DigitalCaleb GardnerAugust 29, 2019Technology, Scale

So long, Friedman

Know your business history: this podcast episode from The Daily gives a nice run down of the transition from managerialism to shareholder primacy to where we are now, a moment when both the biggest investors and most influential CEOs are saying that employees, customers, and society should matter at least as much as shareholders.

ManagementCaleb GardnerAugust 28, 2019Economics, Management

Point/Counterpoint: Privacy

Ben Thompson has a great counterpoint today about an experiment on data tracking ran by the New York Times. (If you haven’t already read the Times piece, it’s fascinating: a dystopian dive into all the ways our activity is tracked online. It’s also a lot of fear mongering.)

DigitalCaleb GardnerAugust 27, 2019Data, Technology

Ethical A.I. and Technological Social Responsibility

Good overview in TechCrunch yesterday of the many, many ways in which algorithms and other forms of artificial intelligence are already affecting our ability to existing in public. An A.I.-driven future isn’t coming—it’s already here.

Digital, ManagementCaleb GardnerAugust 26, 2019TSR, Technology, Management

How comfortable are we getting with surveillance?

Two stories stood out to me recently:

Apparently parents are completely OK with summer camps surveilling their children because they get to look in on them. (I thought sending kids away to camp was so they could unplug?)
The rise of “black boxes” that monitor driving patterns in order to provide discounts on car insurance.

If you think surveillance capitalism is something happening behind the scenes—the sinister work of corporate executives creepily monitoring our lives—think again. We’re gladly opening the blinds.

DigitalCaleb GardnerAugust 22, 2019Surveillance, Technology

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