The Sharing Economy

Subtitled 'the end of employment and the rise of crowd-based capitalism', this brilliant and elucidating book describes the emerging new ways of organising economic activity that are already impacting on the traditional corporate centred model. The new system is decentralised, peer-to-peer and on demand; it blurs the distinction between personal and professional, gift and market economy and is coming to the fore most strongly in accommodation, transport and freelance labour. It is based on the exploitation of underused resources, such as spare rooms, and one of the most interesting implications is the evolution of trust based on online communication and collaboration. Many of its effects are seemingly paradoxical: is it capitalist or socialist, does it destroy jobs or create work? Does it represent the empowered entrepreneur or the disenfranchised drone? The answers are complex - a bit of both.

One can recognise creative destruction in this process and a shift to an asset light economy where it is no longer necessary for everyone to own a car or even an expensive music device if music is immediately downloadable. The author is abreast of all current developments and the major exponents of the new model such as Airbnb, Kickstarter and Lyft. He outlines the background drivers in terms of the consumerisation of the digital, the digitalisation of the physical and decentralised peer-to-peer exchange. He then discusses platforms and what he calls blockchain economies with respect to value creation. The second part looks at the effects in terms of economic impact, regulation and consumer protection, and the future of work. This last point has had the most visibility with the recent controversies involving Uber. What has been called a Fourth Industrial Revolution is clearly here to stay, and you should certainly read this book if you want to understand the implications of this development.