Description
Book SynopsisPlatform Economics tackles head on the rhetoric surrounding the so-called “sharing economy”, which has muddied public debate and has contributed to a lack of policy and regulatory intervention. The book sheds light on the sharing economy debate by offering an in-depth analysis both of rhetoric employed by sharing economy actors, and by mapping key aspects of digital labour markets. The platform is discussed both as a source of innovation and growth and as a matter of policy concern over competition, tax collection, consumers’ protection, privacy, and algorithms transparency, and the future of work. The authors show that actors in the sharing economy have not only used the narratives describing the initial phase of the sharing movement to their advantage, but have also succeeded in enlisting diffuse interests as their allies. The authors’ research draws particular attention to the predicted advent of technological unemployment in conjunction with widespread concern over the robotisation of jobs. Advocating an inter-disciplinary approach in which economics, sociology, anthropology, legal studies, and rhetorical analysis converge, this text will prove invaluable to students, researchers and economists alike.
Trade ReviewThe champions of the "sharing economy" tout two apparently contradictory rhetorics, say Condognone, Karatzofianni, and Matthews. One is of disruptive innovation typical of neo-liberal ideology; and the other is a positive normative discourse about grass-roots and bottom-up revival of community, trust, social capital, and the moral economy allegedly enacted by exchange between peers. This obfuscation has contributed to delays in or total lack of policy and regulatory intervention, they say, so that the platforms have grown into powerful economic and political players with no public or legal constraints. -- Annotation ©2019 * (protoview.com) *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter 1. Platform economics and the sharing economy: a primer
Chapter 2. Rhetoric, reality, impacts and regulation in labour intermediation platforms
Chapter 3. Digital labour markets in a broader perspective
Chapter 4. Ideological production in digital intermediation platforms
Chapter 5. Conclusion and agenda for the future
