Presenting two stories from The Economics of Everyday Things: Why does it seem like every car is black, white, or gray these days? And: How self-storage took over America.   SOURCES:Tom Crockett, classic car enthusiast.Zachary Dickens, executive vice president and chief investment officer of Extra Space Storage.Mark Gutjahr, global head of design at BASF.Kara Kolodziej, self-storage unit tenant.Anne Mari DeCoster, self-storage consultant.Nikkie Riedel, carline planning manager at Subaru of America.  RESOURCES:“A Fifth Of Americans Rent Self Storage, With Millennials Overtaking Gen Xers In Generational Storage Wars,” by Francis Chantree (Storage Cafe, 2024).“Lessors of Mini Warehouses and Self-Storage Units Show Significant Financial Gains During COVID-19 Pandemic,” by Ben Chandler and Robin Enlow (United States Census Bureau, 2024).BASF Color Report 2023 for Automotive OEM Coatings, (2023).“The Fate of Oversupplied Self-Storage Markets and How to Pull Back From the Brink,” by Frank DeSalvo and David Perlleshi (Inside Self Storage, 2023).“A Pandemic Space Race: Self-Storage Roars Back,” by Ellen Rosen (The New York Times, 2021).“Beige on an S.U.V. Will Cost You, but for Pickups It’s Golden,” by Roy Furchgott (The New York Times, 2021).“A Brief History Of Car Colors — And Why Are We So Boring Now?” (Consumer Reports, 2018).“The Link Between the Colour of Cars and the Economy,” (The Economist, 2018).“Need to Store That? Booming Self-Storage Industry Says No Problem,” by Liam Pleven (The Wall Street Journal, 2015).  EXTRAS:“Car Washes,” by The Economics of Everyday Things (2023).Storage Wars, TV series (2010-present).Auction Hunters, TV series (2010-2015).

The employee ownership movement is growing, and one of its biggest champions is also a private equity heavyweight. Is this meaningful change, or just window dressing?   SOURCES:Marjorie Kelly, distinguished senior fellow at The Democracy Collaborative.Corey Rosen, founder and senior staff member of the National Center for Employee Ownership.Pete Stavros, co-head of Global Private Equity at KKR.  RESOURCES:"Private Equity Is Starting to Share With Workers, Without Taking a Financial Hit," by Lydia DePillis (The New York Times, 2024)."Private Equity Heavyweight Pushing Employee Ownership," (60 Minutes, 2024)."Ownership Works: Scaling a Profitable Social Mission," by Ethan Rouen, Dennis Campbell, and Andrew Robinson (HBS Case Collection, 2023)."Research on Employee Ownership," by the National Center for Employee Ownership (2023).Wealth Supremacy: How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s Crises, by Marjorie Kelly (2023)."Is Private Equity Joining — or Co-Opting—the Employee Ownership Movement?" by Marjorie Kelly and Karen Kahn (Fast Company, 2022)."How Well Is Employee Ownership Working?" by Corey Rosen and Michael Quarrey (Harvard Business Review, 1987).  EXTRAS:"Are Private Equity Firms Plundering the U.S. Economy?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023)."Do You Know Who Owns Your Vet?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023)."Should You Trust Private Equity to Take Care of Your Dog?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).