Are Markets Becoming More Short Term?

CAMBRIDGE – In a recent commentary, I examined whether increasing pressure from more rapid stock trading is inducing corporate managers to obsess more over quarterly results, impairing their capacity to run their firms for the long term. But I noted how pressures from governments and rapid technological change are potentially just as powerful as those from stock-market trading. How carefully can one plan for the long term in, say, the eurozone, if the currency itself is at risk? And how long should brick-and-mortar retailers’ time horizons be if distribution is moving online?