Tomorrow 3.0 the sharing economy

A third great economic revolution will come about as the sharing economy slashes transaction costs and turns almost every product into an asset with the potential to earn rental income for its owner. Although the demand for manufactured goods will fall, costing many people their jobs, the quality-adjusted price level will also fall and pressures on the environment will lessen. All of us will rent more and own less. Some of us may specialize in being sellers in these new rental markets for things we do own. But, overall, each of us will have actual possession of far, far less stuff at any given time. But the bad news is that an economy in which entrepreneurs have always been focused on making new products or on making more old products more inexpensively will be shaken to its foundations.

Duke Scholars

Author Michael C. Munger Political Science