DIS-OWNERSHIP

The success of companies like Zipcar and Netflix testifies to the fact that our preferred mode of consumption is shifting from ownership to access. Yet when we consider such phenomena as currency, credit, capital asset pricing, sale leaseback and franchising, it becomes clear that our economy has forever been on a trajectory away from standing property and toward the efficient circulation of value. Subscription-based services such as those mentioned above are but the latest and most consumer-facing manifestations of this tendency.