Jim Epstein on the “Sharing Economy” and Liberal Cover for Fighting Big Government

Companies like Airbnb, Lyft, and EatWith are undermining bad
government policies and in some cases provoking a backlash from
regulators, writes Reason TV’s Jim Epstein. But in these brewing
public policy battles, many advocates for limiting the role of
government don’t talk like libertarians. 

They refer to these new online marketplaces as “the sharing
economy,” a phrase that’s clever branding but too broad
to be very meaningful. They argue that these companies represent a
new paradigm for American capitalism in which trade (at last!)
benefits individuals instead of multinational corporations. The
higher purpose of these sharing economy ventures, they assert,
isn’t making people freer, richer, and happier as customers,
workers, and entrepreneurs, but reducing energy consumption and
staving off the Malthusian apocalypse. 

Sharing economy defenders may be on shaky ground intellectually,
but their effort to rebrand capitalism is winning converts and
swaying regulators. If mushy phrases and misguided ideas provide
cover for, say, Occupy Wall Street protestors to turn up at a
demonstration to save Airbnb, libertarians should rejoice.

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