sharing economy

noun

|Updated on: 27 Jul 2018

Definition of sharing economy

: economic activity that involves individuals buying or selling usually temporary access to goods or services especially as arranged through an online company or organization

Arguably the biggest sector of the sharing economy is travel. People are renting their beds to out-of-towners (Airbnb and Couchsurfer), leading them on guided tours (Vayable and CanaryHop) and hosting meals (Voulez Vous Diner and EatWith), sometimes for free but on most sites for a price—though one far below those found at local hotels.
—Eliana Dockterman

Recent Examples of sharing economy from the Web

Levels of trust for sharing economy services also fell, slipping three percentage points to 62 percent.

— christopher elliott, USA TODAY, "Are travelers cooling to the sharing economy?," 17 June 2018
By 2014, with the sharing economy growing, Cloud looked around.

— caitlin mccabe, Philly.com, "Collingswood begins shutting down Airbnbs, as cities and towns worldwide struggle to regulate it," 27 June 2018
Spinlister has been around since April 2012, but its original mission was a simpler take on the sharing economy.

— john wenz, Popular Mechanics, "In This Bike-Sharing Plan, You Buy a $1,000 Cycle and Rent It Yourself," 13 Mar. 2015
This latest venture melds two of tech’s favorite ideas: the sharing economy, and the basis of Bitcoin—the blockchain.

— lucinda shen, Fortune, "This 'Uber of China' Creator Is Building a Ride-Hailing App Based on Bitcoin Technology," 29 May 2018
That figure includes temporary help workers, independent contractors, freelancers, and workers on sharing economy websites such as Etsy.

— brian melley and christopher rugaber, The Christian Science Monitor, "California ruling will cause 'seismic shift' in gig economy," 2 May 2018
But like all utopian enterprises, the sharing economy has significant flaws.

— Time, "The Trouble with Sharing: China's Bike Fever Has Reached Saturation Point," 2 Apr. 2018
Like Uber versus the taxi industry before them, this fight is a clash between an old-school business model and a modern technology platform inspired by the sharing economy.

— peter holley, Washington Post, "Airbnb for cars is here. And the rental car giants are not happy.," 30 Mar. 2018
Renting out your ride Getaround and Turo are the sharing economy's answer to rental agencies.

— maria carter, Woman's Day, "19 Real Ways to Make Money from Home," 22 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sharing economy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.