Does the Government need to Regulate the Sharing Economy?

Economist Arun Sundararajan tells us why he thinks the government should not regulate the sharing economy and that reputation replaces regulation. 

In the sharing economy, reputation serves as the digital institution that protects buyers and prevents market failures.

This is a very controversial topic for the sharing economy, especially since the recent death of a six year old girl who was hit by an Uber contracted driver.  

Check out the rest of Arun's article on Wired and let us know what you think. Should the government be involved in the sharing economy? If so to what extent? 

What will 2014 hold for the Sharing Economy?

Shel Israel, a contributor on Forbes.com makes 5 predictions for 2014. We couldn't help but notice that two of the five are regarding the growing sharing economy.

“3. More people and businesses will profit by sharing.

It’s being called the Collaborative Economy and the Sharing Economy, among other things. It is the general concept that in a world of constrained resources, more people and businesses will share the resources they do have, eliminating inefficiencies and improving revenues.

This new online-enabled Sharing Economy will allow some organizations and individuals to preserve the assets they have and others to be able to use those assets, for a fee.


This is already a huge trend. The big change is that in 2014, many of the world’s largest brands will embraced Sharing Economy practices. They will do it with new practices of their own and by partnering with innovative startups. They will not be taking these steps as a demonstration of goodwill, so much a desire to become more efficient and profitable during continuing times of constraint in economics and global resources.

This may be the biggest trend of 2014.”

As well as

“5. Trust will emerge as a global currency.

Converging factors such as the Sharing Economy and data collecting, will lead people to do business with other entities that they believe they can trust, based on the strength of their online presence and reputation.

This will be an incentive for people and businesses to behave in trustworthy ways. Government—at least on the Federal level—will remain another story.”

What do you think? 

Check out the entire article here

The Sharing Economy Lacks Shared Definition →

So you may have heard of the "sharing economy", or "collaborative consumption" or "peer economy". They all sound like they mean the same thing and they are all used interchangeably. Rachel Botsman breaks down, defines and attempts to visualize the most common terms being used in her presentation The Sharing Economy Lacks a Shared Definition. 

Check out Botsman's article and see what you think. Will this new economy be more valuable once it is specifically defined? Or is not having to agree on one term part of what the sharing economy is about? 

Discuss!