The sharing economy is a business model in which a platform enables individuals to share access to underused goods, services or assets, such as vehicles, homes or tools, rather than each person owning them outright, usually in exchange for a fee that the platform takes a share of. It relies on digital technology to connect owners of spare capacity with people who want temporary access, lowering the coordination costs that previously made such sharing impractical at scale. Prominent examples span transportation (ridesharing, car-sharing and bike-sharing services), accommodation (home-sharing platforms such as Airbnb and CouchSurfing) and finance (peer-to-peer lending platforms), and the model has grown into an industry handling hundreds of billions of dollars in transactions globally.
Facts
Partially Attested
Origin YearLawrence Lessig is credited by some sources as possibly the first to use the term sharing economy, in 2008, though the same article notes others consider the term's origin unknown; 2008 is used here as the earliest documented attribution rather than a settled founding date. Core MechanismThe sharing economy lets people access and reuse spare capacity in goods, services or skills that others already own, typically matched through a digital platform, rather than each participant owning or providing everything outright. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The sharing economy reshaped the hospitality industry through peer-to-peer short-term lodging platforms that let individuals rent out spare space.
The sharing economy relies on a platform enabling individuals to share access to underused goods or assets, making it a specific application of the platform business model.
Sources
1. Wikipedia, Sharing Economy
WikipediaLead sectionQuote, Lead section
These systems take a variety of forms, often leveraging information technology and the Internet, particularly digital platforms, to facilitate the distribution, sharing and reuse of excess capacity in goods and services.
1. Wikipedia, Sharing Economy
WikipediaLead section, etymologyQuote, Lead section, etymology
Lawrence Lessig was possibly first to use the term in 2008, though others claim the origin of the term is unknown.
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