Gender and the Sharing Economy

While the sharing economy has been celebrated as a flexible alternative to traditional employment for those with family responsibilities, especially women, it presents challenges for gender equality. Many of the services that are “shared” take place in the context of intimacy, which can have substantial consequences for transacting, particularly by enhancing the importance of identity of both the worker and the customer. Expanding on previous research on intimate work — a critical area that exists largely in limbo between the law of the market and the law of the family — this Article, written for the Cooper-Walsh Colloquium, explores the significance of intimacy in the sharing economy and the implications for its regulation of the sharing economy and for sex equality. It argues that the intimacy of many sharing economy transactions heightens the salience of sex to these transactions, in tension with sex discrimination law’s goal of reducing the salience of sex in the labor market. But even if existing sex discrimination law extends to these transactions, the intimacy of the transactions again limits the law’s ability to promote gender equality in the same transformative way that it has in the traditional economy. The sharing economy thus raises serious concerns for proponents of sex equality

Cities, The Sharing Economy and What's Next

This report seeks to provide an analysis of what is currently happening in American cities so that city leaders may better understand, encourage and regulate the growing sharing economy. Interviews were conducted with city officials on the impact of the sharing economy and related topics, and the report centers around five key themes: innovation, economic development, equity, safety and implementation.The sharing economy is also commonly referred to as collaborative consumption, the collaborative economy, or the peer-to-peer economy. This term refers to business models that enable providers and consumers to share resources and services, from housing to vehicles and more. These business models typically take the form of an online and/or application-based platform for business transactions

The Sharing Economy at the Crossroads. A Conflict Between Social Values and Market Mechanisms

In the last few years the phenomenon of the Sharing Economy rapidly gained momentum. The reasons for this success are multiple but the most important is the tendency to faster exchanges and economic relationships both on the real and the financial market. This awareness made it essential to start the study from the crisis of the hyper-capitalism and of the concept of ownership which is being replaced with that of a more fluid sharing. in this way, we will analyze the words, the concepts and the values at the basis of the sharing economy which influence the effects this new way of acting and living has on the economies and on the socialization processes of the countries involved. In this perspective, we will also try to consider if and to what extent the sharing economy can have a positive impact on sustainable development.In the last few years the phenomenon of the Sharing Economy rapidly gained momentum. The reasons for this success are multiple but the most important is the tendency to faster exchanges and economic relationships both on the real and the financial market. This awareness made it essential to start the study from the crisis of the hyper-capitalism and of the concept of ownership which is being replaced with that of a more fluid sharing. in this way, we will analyze the words, the concepts and the values at the basis of the sharing economy which influence the effects this new way of acting and living has on the economies and on the socialization processes of the countries involved. In this perspective, we will also try to consider if and to what extent the sharing economy can have a positive impact on sustainable development

Sharing economy vs sharing cultures? Designing for social, economic and environmental good

This paper explores the story behind a crowdfunding service as an example of sharing technology. Research in a small neighborhood of London showed how locally-developed initiatives can differ in tone, scale, ambition and practice to those getting attention in the so-called sharing economy. In local accounts, we see an emphasis on organizing together to create shared spaces for collaborative use of resources and joint ownership of projects and places. Whereas, many global business models feature significant elements of renting, leasing and hiring and focus only on resource management, sometimes at the expense of community growth. The service we discuss is based in the area we studied and has a collective model of sharing, but hopes to be part of the new global movement. We use this hybridity to problematize issues of culture, place and scalability in developing sharing resources and addressing sustainability concerns. We relate this to the motivation, rhetoric and design choices of other local sharing enterprises and other global sharing economy initiatives, arguing, in conclusion, that there is no sharing economy, but a variety of new cultures being fostered

Earning Income in the Sharing/On-Demand Economy

Until 2015, we knew very little about the work and workers in the sharing/on-demand economy. Indeed, the last official government survey of the broader contingent workforce was conducted in 2005 -- long before most of these new platforms or apps even existed. However, in the last year, our understanding has advanced dramatically, thanks to the release of a few key pieces of research, including: the JPMorgan Chase Institute study, "Paychecks, Paydays and the Online Platform Economy;" Lawrence Katz and Alan Krueger's "The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States, 1995-2015;" work by Intuit and Emergent Research, "Dispatches from the New Economy: The On-Demand Economy Workforce;" and others. However, while these and other studies have revealed a great deal about the work and workers in the sharing/on-demand economy, there is still much we need to understand. This paper aims to lay out what we know about the sharing/on-demand economy and define questions for additional research. This paper is meant to be a resource for public and private research organizations, foundations, government agencies, and other parties interested in promoting a more thorough understanding of the sharing/on-demand economy workforce, including its relationship to the broader contingent workforce

The sharing economy, jobs and skills

The global economy is entering the third wave of information technology, characterized by interconnected platforms of people, objects and resources. The Internet of Things (IoT) as a technology-enabler of the Sharing Economy and its global platforms are due to grow exponentially in the next decade, placing demands on skills and changing the employment landscape. The demand for low-value-adding work will decrease as resources are used more effectively whilst the demand for information technology skills will continue to rise in order to meet the requirements of developing IoT products, software, apps, networks, cloud infrastructure, data management and information systems.peer-reviewe

Who Contributes to the Knowledge Sharing Economy?

Information sharing dynamics of social networks rely on a small set of influencers to effectively reach a large audience. Our recent results and observations demonstrate that the shape and identity of this elite, especially those contributing \emph{original} content, is difficult to predict. Information acquisition is often cited as an example of a public good. However, this emerging and powerful theory has yet to provably offer qualitative insights on how specialization of users into active and passive participants occurs. This paper bridges, for the first time, the theory of public goods and the analysis of diffusion in social media. We introduce a non-linear model of \emph{perishable} public goods, leveraging new observations about sharing of media sources. The primary contribution of this work is to show that \emph{shelf time}, which characterizes the rate at which content get renewed, is a critical factor in audience participation. Our model proves a fundamental \emph{dichotomy} in information diffusion: While short-lived content has simple and predictable diffusion, long-lived content has complex specialization. This occurs even when all information seekers are \emph{ex ante} identical and could be a contributing factor to the difficulty of predicting social network participation and evolution.Comment: 15 pages in ACM Conference on Online Social Networks 201