{"id":12666,"date":"2016-05-23T07:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T12:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/qa-the-impact-and-evolution-of-the-sharing-economy\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:17:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:17:41","slug":"qa-the-impact-and-evolution-of-the-sharing-economy","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/05\/23\/qa-the-impact-and-evolution-of-the-sharing-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&#038;A: The impact and evolution of the sharing economy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Last week, Pew Research Center <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2016\/05\/19\/the-new-digital-economy\/\">released a new report<\/a> that examined Americans\u2019 usage of and exposure to the sharing economy, as well as their views on a number of issues associated with some of its services. To further examine the potential impact of these new digital services on the future of work, government regulations and the economy as a whole, we interviewed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stern.nyu.edu\/faculty\/bio\/arun-sundararajan\">Arun Sundararajan<\/a>. Sundararajan is a professor of business\u00a0at New York University, a leading expert on the sharing economy and the author of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Sharing-Economy-Employment-Crowd-Based-Capitalism-ebook\/dp\/B01BG90H9W\">new book<\/a> \u201cThe Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<figure><a href='https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/06\/FT_16.06.23_restrictionsKeyfindings_asiaPacific310px-1.png'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"164\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/06\/FT_16.06.23_restrictionsKeyfindings_asiaPacific310px-1.png?w=164\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium not-transparent\" alt=\"Religion-related terrorist activities 2014\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/06\/FT_16.06.23_restrictionsKeyfindings_asiaPacific310px-1.png 310w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/06\/FT_16.06.23_restrictionsKeyfindings_asiaPacific310px-1.png?resize=164,300 164w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/06\/FT_16.06.23_restrictionsKeyfindings_asiaPacific310px-1.png?resize=160,292 160w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/06\/FT_16.06.23_restrictionsKeyfindings_asiaPacific310px-1.png?resize=222,405 222w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/06\/FT_16.06.23_restrictionsKeyfindings_asiaPacific310px-1.png?resize=200,365 200w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/06\/FT_16.06.23_restrictionsKeyfindings_asiaPacific310px-1.png?resize=260,475 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 164px) 100vw, 164px\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" data-dominant-color=\"f4f3f3\" style=\"--dominant-color: #f4f3f3;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_280277\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-280277\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/05\/23\/qa-the-impact-and-evolution-of-the-sharing-economy\/asundara\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-280277\"><img data-dominant-color=\"040605\" data-has-transparency=\"true\" style=\"--dominant-color: #040605;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-280277 has-transparency\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2016\/05\/asundara.jpg\" alt=\"Arun Sundararajan\" width=\"160\" height=\"239\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-280277\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arun Sundararajan, professor of information, operations and management sciences at New York University. (Photo Credit: New York University)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>In your view, what are the key characteristics of the sharing or peer-to-peer economy that make it interesting to study?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before we begin, I\u2019ve been reading through your findings, and they are fascinating. They represent some of the most interesting results I\u2019ve seen about the sharing economy to date. True, there\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/05\/20\/how-americans-define-the-sharing-economy\/\">a fair bit of ambiguity<\/a> about what the sharing economy is \u2013 perhaps in part because \u201csharing\u201d has a noncommercial connotation that isn\u2019t ideally descriptive. I prefer the term \u201ccrowd-based capitalism,\u201d but continue to use \u201csharing economy\u201d because it maximizes the number of people who know what I\u2019m talking about (and now, with the new book out, I\u2019m pretty committed).<!--more--><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In my book, I define the sharing economy as an economic system with the following five characteristics, all of which make it interesting to study:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Largely market-based<\/em>: The sharing economy creates markets that enable the exchange of goods and the emergence of new services, resulting in potentially higher levels of economic activity.<\/li>\n<li><em>High-impact capital<\/em>: The sharing economy opens new opportunities for everything, from assets and skills to time and money, to be used at levels closer to their full capacity.<\/li>\n<li><em>Crowd-based \u201cnetworks\u201d rather than centralized institutions or \u201chierarchies\u201d<\/em>: The supply of capital and labor comes from decentralized crowds of individuals rather than corporate or state aggregates; future exchange may be mediated by distributed crowd-based marketplaces rather than by centralized third parties.<\/li>\n<li><em>Blurring lines between the personal and the professional<\/em>: The supply of labor and services often commercializes and scales peer-to-peer activities like giving someone a ride or lending someone money, activities which used to be considered \u201cpersonal.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><em>Blurring lines between fully employed and casual labor, between independent and dependent employment, and between work and leisure<\/em>: Many traditionally full-time jobs are supplanted by contract work that features a continuum of levels of time commitment, granularity, economic dependence and entrepreneurship.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Can you talk briefly about how economists are attempting to measure and evaluate the broad economic impact of the sharing economy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most research from academic economists has focused on trying to design better sharing-economy marketplaces, rather than quantifying its broader impact, or measuring the magnitude of the freelance workforce. The approach is typically to partner with one existing marketplace and to either analyze transactional data following a design change, or to run randomized trials or a field experiment. I like the work done by some younger scholars such as <a href=\"http:\/\/john-joseph-horton.com\/research\/\">John Horton<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/andreyfradkin.com\/\">Andrey Fradkin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/chiarafarronato\/\">Chiara Farronato<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/web.stanford.edu\/~zcullen\/\">Zoe Cullen<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ssrn.com\/abstract=2366898\">Georgios Zervas<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/ssrn.com\/abstract=2701902\">Michael Luca<\/a>, as well as the measurement and policy work from <a href=\"http:\/\/faculty.haas.berkeley.edu\/stadelis\/EPP.pdf\">Steve Tadelis<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/krueger.princeton.edu\/\">Alan Krueger<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hamiltonproject.org\/assets\/files\/modernizing_labor_laws_for_twenty_first_century_work_krueger_harris.pdf\">Seth Harris<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/uber-static\/comms\/PDF\/Uber_Driver-Partners_Hall_Kreuger_2015.pdf\">Jonathan Hall<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My own approach tends to ask broader questions, uses data from (and surveys of users of) multiple platforms, and pays a great level of attention to the \u201cstructural\u201d aspects of the economic effects before I take my analysis to the data.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What does your research show about the potential benefits \u2013 as well as potential downsides \u2013 of these new ways of making money?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In some of <a href=\"http:\/\/ssrn.com\/abstract=2574337\">my own work<\/a>, I take a stab at quantifying impact by imagining an economy in which, in addition to buying new and used products, consumers can rent from each other through a peer-to-peer market. The main projections from my analysis (using data from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.getaround.com\/\">Getaround<\/a>) are that an economy grows as it transitions into being more sharing-oriented even as ownership drops, and the gains are captured <em>primarily by people below median income<\/em>. Thus, over time, the sharing economy has an equalizing effect.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A key potential downside is the loss of the social safety net \u2013 the insurance, income stability, paid vacations and other fringe benefits that are critical to the well-being of workers. My work suggests that inventing a new funding model is at the heart of the solution. Nobody disputes that we need to protect workers. But the old funding model \u2013 the employer funds benefits in exchange for a commitment of full-time work \u2013 doesn\u2019t transition well to the sharing economy. We need a new individual-platform-government partnership model.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Do you expect to see state and federal governments taking a more active role in regulating these services over the next few years, or will this continue to be a largely local issue?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>[thus far]<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>How have these services and the debates surrounding them evolved outside of the U.S., especially in larger emerging markets like India and China? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conversation has been quite diverse, often in surprising ways. For example, it seems like regulatory resistance to Airbnb has been the strongest in New York, while Paris has become a poster child for how to rapidly define and implement balanced new laws to legalize Airbnb activity. (If one had to predict a few years ago which of the governments \u2013 New York in the U.S. or Paris in France \u2013 was more likely to resist entry by a Silicon Valley based disruptive platform, I think most people would have predicted the opposite.) Part of this difference might have to do with the global success of France-based platforms like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blablacar.fr\/\">BlaBlaCar<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/laruchequiditoui.fr\/fr\">La Ruche Qui Dit Oui<\/a>, and part of it is because of a point highlighted earlier \u2013 the politics are local rather than federal\/central.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The potential is really immense in China and India, and not just because of their population and rapidly growing economies. There are hundreds of millions of new members of the middle class who are coming of age as consumers during the era of the sharing economy. They don\u2019t have to readjust from decades of ownership-based consumption. Instead, they\u2019ll simply adopt sharing behaviors more naturally. So in a few years, perhaps calling a luxury Didi Chuxing or Ola car whenever you need one will supersede buying your first car as the symbol of success or \u201cI\u2019ve arrived\u201d in these economies.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We interviewed Arun Sundararajan, a professor of information, operations and management sciences at New York University, and a leading expert on the sharing economy. Sundararajan is the author of the recently released book \u201cThe Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[32,297,248,303],"bylines":[973,940],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[526],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-12666","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-economy-work","category-emerging-technology","category-gig-sharing-economies-2","category-gig-sharing-economies-1","bylines-aaron-smith","bylines-monica-anderson","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-internet"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":1080,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/05\/23\/qa-the-impact-and-evolution-of-the-sharing-economy\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":23767,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp?w=231&h=261&crop=1","width":160,"height":239,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":23767,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp?w=231&h=151&crop=1","width":160,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":23767,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":160,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":23767,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp?w=231&h=151&crop=1","width":160,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":23767,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp?w=231&h=261&crop=1","width":160,"height":239,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":23767,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/05\/asundara-jpg.webp?w=231&h=261&crop=1","width":160,"height":239,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Q&#038;A: The impact and evolution of the sharing economy","description":"We interviewed Arun Sundararajan, a professor of information, operations and management sciences at New York University, and a leading expert on the sharing economy. 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