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What’s Next for the Sharing Economy?
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What’s Next for the Sharing Economy?

Yochai Benkler, Jeremy Rifkin, Carlo Retti and Rachel Botsman
World Economic Forum, 2018
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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Overview
  • Background
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

The World Economic Forum has compiled a video montage that offers a useful overview of the sharing economy. Though the finished product lacks cohesion and depth, it raises some striking issues, such as China’s early success with the sharing economy and the unsolved issue of regulation.  getAbstract recommends this video to anyone seeking an overview of the social change that the sharing economy can effect.

Summary

The sharing economy is becoming increasingly mainstream and disrupting the global economy. It may even auger the end of capitalism. The paradigm’s central principle is one of “economic efficiency.” Many physical assets are underemployed. For example, most cars run just 5% of the time. The sharing economy allows people to unlock the dormant value embedded in their physical assets via “networks and marketplaces.” Two factors – data and accessible real-time information – enable the smooth running of the sharing economy.

Early adapters such as Airbnb and Uber grew quickly because traditional firms failed to identify...

About the Speakers

Yochai Benkler is a professor at Harvard Law School. Jeremy Rifkin is an economist. Carlo Ratti is the director of the MIT Senseable City Lab. Rachel Botsman is a lecturer at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School.

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