industry regulations

They say they make companies more efficient through savvy management. Critics say they bend the rules to enrich themselves at the expense of consumers and employees. Can they both be right? (Probably not.)

RESOURCES:

• Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America, by Brendan Ballou (2023).
• Two and Twenty: How the Masters of Private Equity Always Win, by Sachin Khajuria (2022).
• "Local Journalism under Private Equity Ownership," by Michael Ewens, Arpit Gupta, and Sabrina T. Howell (NBER Working Paper, 2022).
• “Owner Incentives and Performance in Healthcare: Private Equity Investment in Nursing Homes,” by Atul Gupta, Sabrina T. Howell, Constantine Yannelis, and Abhinav Gupta (NBER Working Paper, 2021).
• “Leveraged Buyouts and Financial Distress,” by Brian Ayash and Mahdi Rastad (Finance Research Letters, 2021).
• “Have Private Equity Owned Nursing Homes Fared Worse Under COVID-19?” by Ashvin Gandhi, YoungJun Song, and Prabhava Upadrashta (SSRN, 2020).
• “When Investor Incentives and Consumer Interests Diverge: Private Equity in Higher Education,” by Charlie Eaton, Sabrina T. Howell, and Constantine Yannelis (The Review of Financial Studies, 2020).
• “The Economic Effects of Private Equity Buyouts,” by Steven J. Davis, John Haltiwanger, Kyle Handley, Ben Lipsius, Josh Lerner, and Javier Miranda (SSRN, 2019).
• “How Acquisitions Affect Firm Behavior and Performance: Evidence from the Dialysis Industry,” by Paul J. Eliason, Benjamin Heebsh, Ryan C. McDevitt, and James W. Roberts (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2019).
• "In Silicon Valley, Even Mobile Homes Are Getting Too Pricey for Longtime Residents," by Tracy Lien (Los Angeles Times, 2017).
• “The Operational Consequences of Private Equity Buyouts: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry,” by Shai Bernstein and Albert Sheen (SSRN, 2013).
• "Private Equity and Employment," by Steven J. Davis, John C. Haltiwanger, Ron S. Jarmin, Josh Lerner, and Javier Miranda (NBER Working Paper, 2011).

EXTRAS:

• "Should You Trust Private Equity to Take Care of Your Dog?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
• "Do You Know Who Owns Your Vet?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
• "Mobile Home Parks," by The Economics of Everyday Things (2023).
• "The Secret Life of a C.E.O.," series by Freakonomics Radio (2018).
• "Extra: David Rubenstein Full Interview," by Freakonomics Radio (2018).

SOURCES:

• Brendan Ballou, special counsel at the Department of Justice.
• Dan Glickberg, venture-capital investor.
• Hannah Howard, food writer.
• Sachin Khajuria, investor.

Hey smarties! We recorded today’s episode before historic news broke that the House of representatives voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker. We’re monitoring the story as it develops and as the House figures out what comes next.

IIt’s Day 1 of Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial. Last year, The founder of FTX was charged with counts of fraud and conspiracy after his crypto exchange went under and investigators found that $8 billion in customer funds had gone missing.

Before his fall from grace, SBF had become one of the most powerful players in the industry. This has us wondering: Is crypto on trial along with Sam Bankman-Fried?

On the show today, Bloomberg’s Zeke Faux, author of “Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall,” explains how the trial could play out, where crypto is today and whether it has a viable future, post-SBF.

Then, we’ll hear how companies can be held accountable for the junk they leave floating in space. And automatic enrollment in retirement savings plans has given millennials a boost in an economy where they haven’t generally had a leg up.

Later, we’ll hear from one listener on the overlap between colleges and trade schools. And another listener explains why he was wrong about music.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• • “Who’s Rooting Hardest for a Sam Bankman-Fried Conviction? The Crypto Industry.” from The New York Times

• • “With SBF, Gisele, and Michael Lewis at Peak of Crypto Craze” from New York Magazine

• • “What Good is Crypto If Coin Prices Don’t Go Up?” from Bloomberg

• • “The FTX trial is bigger than Sam Bankman-Fried” from The Verge

• • “Mountain of FTX Evidence: Emails, Chat Logs, Code and a Notebook” from The New York Times

• • “Can FTX Be Revived—Without Sam Bankman-Fried?” from Wired

• • “Why Black investors are more likely to own crypto” from Marketplace

• • “FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023” from FEMA

• • “Dish Network Hit With Historic Fine Over Space Debris” from Gizmodo

• • “Millennials on Better Track for Retirement Than Boomers and Gen X” from The Wall Street Journal

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