97. Elevators
97. Elevators  
Podcast: The Economics of Everyday Things
Published On: Mon Jun 23 2025
Description: Americans take more than 20 billion elevator rides every year — and keeping them safe is an expensive proposition. Zachary Crockett makes small talk. SOURCES:Frank Christensen, president of the International Union of Elevators Constructors.Shannon Moore, service mechanic for the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 8.Brian O'Connell, senior vice president of the Eastern U.S. at Otis Elevators.Stephen Smith, executive director of the Center for Building in North America. RESOURCES:"Elevators," by Stephen Smith (Center for Building in North America, 2024)."Elevator and Escalator Fact Sheet," (National Elevator Industry, 2020)."The Evolution of Elevators: Physical-Human Interface, Digital Interaction, and Megatall Buildings," by Stephen Nichols (Frontiers of Engineering, 2017).Lifted: A Cultural History of the Elevator, by Andreas Bernard (2014). EXTRAS:"Up and Then Down," by Nick Paumgarten (The New Yorker, 2008)."World's Tallest Towers."