What's Yours Is Mine

January 1, 2018

Slee (No One Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart) defines the sharing economy as "businesses that use the Internet to match customers with service providers for real world exchanges." This appeals to those who are "disenchanted with both the centralized bureaucracy of the state and the pervasive commodification of the market" and attracted to "co-operative and non-authoritarian patterns of collaboration." The author believes that communitarian ideals have largely been abandoned, though, in favor of commercial self-interest that has worsened the situation for many (e.g., workers in the sharing economy are often considered independent contractors and do not receive benefits the law extends to employees). Sharing economy companies also often seek to bypass governmental oversight, and Slee maintains that it is through government that interests and needs of communities are balanced. He says the use of reputation systems (in which customers rate providers) to replace government regulation is misguided because there is much that is invisible to customers (e.g., is a restaurant handling food in its kitchen properly). Slee is not blind to the benefits the sharing economy has brought to consumers but thinks the adverse consequences are important and often ignored. VERDICT This intelligent, thoughtful book will appeal to those interested in an analysis of the sharing economy.--Shmuel Ben-Gad, Gelman Lib., George Washington Univ., Washington, DC

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