FORTHCOMING · JANUARY 19, 2027 · HBR PRESS
Possessions
How we think about our stuff, and ourselves, as we own less and use more
A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Business & Economics Book (Fall 2026)
We’re trading ownership for access, purchases for subscriptions, and physical goods for digital rights. Covering cutting-edge research and stories spanning Delaware goat farms, a South London art barbecue, and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, POSSESSIONS reveals what we gain, lose, and become as we own less and use more.
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Praise for Possessions
“Is it better to have a life or subscribe to one? Smart and entertaining, POSSESSIONS is a fascinating look at the past, present, and future of ownership.”
Daniel Gilbert
Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness.
“Why do we buy some things and rent others? Cling to things we never use, yet drop some subscriptions in a heartbeat? POSSESSIONS answers these questions and more. Essential reading for anyone trying to understand why customers try, buy, rent, subscribe, churn, and abandon”
Jonah Berger
Wharton Professor and bestselling author of Contagious and The Catalyst
“POSSESSIONS is a lucid deep dive into the psychology of ownership… I read this book cover to cover and learned something new in every chapter. Brilliant!”
Angela Duckworth
Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor, University of Pennsylvania, and
Faculty Co-Director, Behavior Change For Good Initiative
Carey K. Morewedge is Chair of the Marketing Department and the Everett W. Lord Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. He studies the biases that shape decision-making in a technology-driven world. Carey’s research examines how people make choices about what to own, use, and trust—and how emerging technologies like algorithms and AI are transforming those decisions.
Carey has helped organizations, including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Pinterest, Merck, and Leidos, better understand how people think and design interventions to make better decisions. He has taught thousands of students across Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, and Harvard to diagnose bias and improve judgment.
His research has appeared in Science, PNAS, Nature Human Behaviour, and the Journal of Marketing. He is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, his writing has appeared in The New York Times and TIME, and Carey has appeared on NPR, the BBC, and ABC World News Tonight.