Businessweek

Sunday Strategist: The Sharing Economy May Never Be the Same

Breaking down the boldest bets in business

A municipal worker disinfects a street near electric rental scooters in Prague, Czech Republic, on March 18.Photographer: Milan Jaros/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Economic crises, in general, are terrible for mental health. This one, however, goes far beyond numbers in a portfolio, darkening every transaction, both social and commercial. How we behave as consumers may be fundamentally changed long after this pandemic is a dark footnote of history.

“It’s akin to a PTSD,” said Ilene Green, a Manhattan clinical psychologist. “All of this will be on people’s minds in really quiet ways indefinitely. …I would not call it a mental illness, but this kind of thing does get folded into the psyche.”