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Showing posts from August, 2013

The Sharing Economy

The venerable and erudite  Financial Times of London  wrote a opinion piece entitled, "the new model sharing economy" in today's paper.  I am a big believer in this movement, and wish to share a few historical observations on its development. We probably should begin with a quick definition.  As James Gardner wrote for Forbes, "The Sharing Economy (sounds) like the spiritual home of new age digital hippies, or maybe a step up from a barter system."  This is the risk for those businesses and consumers driving this movement.  It can been seen as "hip or trendy" but the true motivations are more profound and sustainable.  Let me explain. First,  the sharing economy is  a pure capitalistic and  self-interested endeavor .  The "feel good" element of the shared and sharing economy is that we are "sharing." It seems like we are doing something for others rather than doing for ourselves.  It seems anti-materialistic, and anti-indiv