Our lives are changing

These behavioral shifts are creating rapid changes in our economy. There will be both short-term and long-term impact as consumers and businesses are forced to change their behavior radically for weeks or months.

I think people will seek a quick return to “normal” in many aspects of life. But I expect we’ll see greater focus and interest on wellness, and I hope some on personal and collective responsibility and prevention.

For a long time I felt somewhat unique in this regard, but COVID has made my longstanding reality the norm for many more people. Their physical world is defined by their family and hometown, which no longer needs to be near their work, which is entirely online; everything from friends to entertainment has followed the same path.

The shift to online education, remote work, gaming, live conferencing, and leisure is a new form of agglomeration. A leading indicator, consumers have contributed to the first period of inflation for electronic products in over a decade. Over quarantine, these purchases provided gateways to work, socializing, and play. But if these behaviors become... See more

Covid-19 has created short-term winners and losers. But the more structural impact is that trends already under way have been accelerated. Everything was already moving online. Now this is happening even faster. Online marketplaces now have a combined value of $814 billion globally. 58% of consumer marketplaces could be well-positioned to navigate ... See more