Airbnb supporters rally in New York.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Labor’s sharing economy guidelines should help make for a more nuanced debate about the collaborative economy.
Taxis block the streets of the Melbourne CBD during a rally against ride-sharing service UberX.
Melissa Meehan/AAP
Whatever happens to Uber’s legal status in Australia, it’s likely consumers will be the eventual winners.
WikiHouse is one example of the technology-driven new economy, which focuses on people rather than profits.
WikiHouse
Two visions of the ‘new economy’, one based on environmental and social justice values, the other on disruptive technologies, are coming together to challenge the status quo.
Bastiat would understand would Uber is going through in Paris.
Reuters
The economist Frédéric Bastiat didn’t experience the “sharing economy,” but he knew the ludicrousness of wailing against a “foreign technology.”
Is this the future of labor?
Beach work via www.shutterstock.com
The most radical reinvention of work since the rise of industrialization is upon us, as more of us drift toward app-enabled self-employment.
Taking ownership: taxi drivers protest the growth of Uber.
EPA/Alessandro di Marco
Democratising the sharing economy might reduce profits but it would probably benefit people and the environment more.
Do only sociopaths hitch?
Hitchhiker via www.shutterstock.com
As our ever-increasing use of services like Uber, Lyft and AirBnB show, it’s safe to trust other Americans. Time for hitchhking to make a comeback.
The gig for you?
Image sourced from Shutterstock.com
Australians are used to casual work, but there’s not yet any evidence the gig economy is taking off.
Mexico City Uber protests on July 29.
Marco Ugarte
Some theorists suggest that such platforms are making our world more efficient by natural selection. The reality is a little more complicated.
This Occupy Toronto sign sums up the sentiment, but people are also moving on from capitalism in practice by such means as digitally enabled collaboration and the sharing economy.
flickr/Eric Parker
While some find it hard to imagine life after capitalism, the digitally connected people of the world have begun embracing a new set of ethical concerns requiring new types of economies.
Sharing is earning.
jonathan mcintosh/Flickr
The sharing economy could bring about the end of capitalism: that’s the provocative claim made by economic journalist Paul Mason. But research indicates that it actually has many possible futures.
Delivering value?
Image sourced from Shutterstock.com
The exponential change in the role of management means more and more management tasks are likely to be taken away.
Some feel as if they’re being taken for a ride, rather than enjoying it.
Andrew Matthews/PA
California case highlights the potential negative impact of technological progress.
Are Uber drivers employees or just contractors?
Reuters
A California commission ruled that an Uber driver is an employee, not a contractor, but the decision will do little to resolve the murky legal issue.
A labour ruling in the home state of ride-sharing group Uber has grappled with a vexed labour issue.
Image sourced from www.shutterstock.com
A ruling by the Californian Labor Commission that Uber drivers are employees, not individual contractors, might have much wider implications for the ride-sharing group.
The sharing economy is moving rapidly but we haven’t yet figured out how it will impact traditional workplace norms.
Image sourced from Shutterstock.com
With the momentum of the sharing economy growing, we’re only just starting to come to grips with what it means for the future of work.
Intergenerational home: the residents (particularly children and dogs!) move through the gaps in the dividing garden wall.
Katherine Lu
With a few tweaks to planning or land title laws, co-housing could help to reduce the costs of buying, owning and renting a home.
While selfies have become a staple of political life, voters’ loyalty beyond the moment can no longer be taken for granted – a new reality the major parties must adapt to if they want to survive.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The same forces of disruption that are changing industries and economies around the world are now having a discernible effect on Australian politics – and that’s bad news for the major parties.
Could sharing be the building blocks of an economy?
Share blocks from www.shutterstock.com
Regulations pushed by incumbent businesses to protect their turf only end up stifling growth and hurting consumers.
BMW makes its cars available to the average punter.
Kevin Hackert
BMW has announced that its pay-as-you-go car club, DriveNow, will launch in London, following on from Berlin, Vienna and San Francisco. DriveNow works by giving users access to a fleet of BMWs and Minis…