> The Sharing Economy Isn’t About Trust, It’s About Desperation
Not in my experience. It's more about common sense and convenience. If your place is empty for a while why not let someone stay there and get some money. It used to be too much hassle before AirBNB and the like, now it's easier. I know a few people who've AirBNB'd and they are not desperate, it's just an easier system. I'm sure some people who use such services are desperate for money but it there will always be some percentage of the population is. It's not fundamental to the sharing economy and it would still have succeeded no matter how strong the economy.
There will always be some percentage of the population that are desperate for money, but that percentage has been rising. The rise of desperation has correlated with the rise of the sharing economy. How can you say the sharing economy would still have succeeded without that correlation?
I think they are largely unrelated. The rise of desperation has been mostly due to factors like the 2008 financial crash, deflationary monetary conditions and the globalisation of the the labor market. Airbnb on the other hand is kind of cool and I'd use it anyway. The 'sharing economy' companies may be doing a bit better than they would under easier economic conditions I'll give you.
> It's more about common sense and convenience. If your place is empty for a while why not let someone stay there and get some money.
My family economist described it as "promoting higher rates of capital utilization" - i.e. helping people make better use of the resources and investments that already exist.
Not in my experience. It's more about common sense and convenience. If your place is empty for a while why not let someone stay there and get some money. It used to be too much hassle before AirBNB and the like, now it's easier. I know a few people who've AirBNB'd and they are not desperate, it's just an easier system. I'm sure some people who use such services are desperate for money but it there will always be some percentage of the population is. It's not fundamental to the sharing economy and it would still have succeeded no matter how strong the economy.