A year into the pandemic, many companies are looking to make remote work permanent. While huge uncertainty remains around who will be returning to the office and when, remote work is likely to become a permanent arrangement for many companies and employees.

But what can we expect? Many remote workers don’t want to return to the office, and 30% have indicated they will switch jobs if ordered to do so. …

2020 was a miserable year, even by the standards of the last few. This year as the ball dropped in an empty Times Square many of us sighed in relief and hoped for better days ahead.

Yet if there is one silver lining the pandemic has revealed it is this: Things — even the things we hate and have long accepted as unchangeable — are far less rigid and enduring than they seem.

This notion may seem counterintuitive for Americans who have watched politics lurch right and then left and then right again with little to show for it over…

With the transition to remote work, a large number of Americans have traded their commute to the office for a short walk down the hallway. A few have lamented the loss of the commute, but for many it has reduced stress and improved quality of life. One study found working from home saved an average of 41 minutes of commute time. Of course, much of this regained time has been lost to spotty childcare, online learning or even working more hours.

While individual workers have gained, the rapid change brought about by workers heading to the office via laptop rather…

The economics of the US pandemic response have fueled growth at the top

Record low interest rates have driven home sales and the stock market barreling upward, but it’s also left those with means chasing increasingly riskier investment opportunities. Money is rushing into special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) that let investors impatient with the IPO processs pool their money first, then embark on the search for a company. In our focus on whether the recovery will be V or K shaped, we overlook the risk that the economy is starting to take on the shape of a spikey COVID ball…

America in an era of COVID-19 is a tale of two economies: for the wealthiest, with their work having transitioned seamlessly to home and their stock portfolios barreling upward in a stunning trajectory, COVID-19 has been an inconvenience. For the bottom third of incomes, the pandemic has been devastating. Unpaid rents, shuttered businesses, and job losses have created a hole many will never dig themselves out of.

Efforts at a second stimulus bill and the much touted option of an Executive Order by President Biden to wipe away up to $50k in federal student loan debt for each recipient offer…

As we approach the shortest day of the year, the struggle to maintain a sense of normalcy is rapidly falling by the wayside—and our feral tendencies are emerging. The exhaustion of a sustained crisis that has dragged on for nearly a year and the cold darkness of winter mean that ambitious efforts to maintain some sense of normalcy have given way to stress, anxiety, depression, and a full-fledged metal health crisis even among those lucky enough not to be struggling with food insecurity or economic catastrophe. Especially for those who are unemployed or working from remote, the absence of a…

Scanidnavians can teach us a thing or two about how to maintain happiness in the long dark days ahead — but it requires more than twinkly lights

COVID-19 has sucked the fun out of pretty much everything this year, and as temperatures drop and the days shorten there is a worry that not only will case counts continue to increase but the psychological strain of being house bound will take an even larger toll on mental health. …

In a time of COVID-19 owning less is more appealing than ever

For all the media coverage of people hoarding toilet paper, paper towels, and tinned foods minimalism isn’t dead. In fact, paradoxically it makes more sense than ever. Even with the stay at home orders and the shift to remote work, being confined to home has made Americans recognize the shortcomings of their spaces like never before. It’s a challenge of which mothers, as the primary buffers tasked with absorbing the extra load, are accurately aware. …