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Commentary By Jared Meyer

Why Americans Love the Sharing Economy

Cities, Economics Infrastructure & Transportation, Regulatory Policy

Regulators, who are still attempting to respond to the creation of the Internet, will never catch up to America’s entrepreneurs.

The following is an adapted excerpt from the author’s new monograph “Uber-Positive: Why Americans Love the Sharing Economy.”

Despite the results of a new Pew Research Center poll showing that Americansoverwhelmingly reject the application of outdated regulations to the growing sharing economy, government regulators have missed the message. Places as diverse as Austin, Texas, and Montreal, Quebec, have recently taken steps to suppress the sharing economy—specifically ridesharing—by treating the Uber as a taxi company. Regulators’ attitudes towards innovative new services can be summed up in one phrase: “Regulators gonna regulate.”

“Politicians on the campaign trail often talk about the need for regulatory reform, but their rhetoric alone will not be enough to change policy.”

But when crafting regulation, policymakers need to keep in mind that the relationship between consumers and service providers has been transformed for the better in the sharing economy. Rather than keeping consumers safe, regulators are now threatening the growth of the new economy—growth that has proven to be a promising way to increase consumer choice, work opportunities, and economic growth.

For example, at every stage in ridesharing’s growth, established interests in the taxi industry have used claims about its dangers to scare politicians into acting. Each time, the claims have been shown to be overstated or blatantly false. Undeterred, the industry continues to use any political means available to maintain its monopoly. Rather than focusing on competing on Main Street, Big Taxi turns its attention to city halls and state capitols.

It is difficult for regulators to embrace the changing economy. Politicians on the campaign trail often talk about the need for regulatory reform, but their rhetoric alone will not be enough to change policy. However, despite the continued attacks on innovation, one major shift has happened in recent years—the rise of the sharing economy. Workers finally have a way to satisfy their desires to work on their own terms. It is now up to policymakers to facilitate workers’ calls for freedom, flexibility, and mobility, rather than standing in the way.

We Like Creative Business Models

Not only do many workers prefer to take part in the sharing economy, but in the current period of low economic growth it is an essential way to increase Americans’ earnings. More than half of those people who provide services through the sharing economy say they became better off financially...

Read the entire piece here at The Federalist

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Jared Meyer is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute's Economics21. Follow him on Twitter here.

This piece originally appeared in The Federalist