The Sharing Economy is Causing Inequality, Social Harm

Fifty billion dollars is a lot of money. It’s more than the gross domestic product of Costa Rica. It’s nearly twice as much as the NASA…

Fifty billion dollars is a lot of money. It’s more than the gross domestic product of Costa Rica. It’s nearly twice as much as the NASA program building rockets to go to Mars. And it is more than 16 times the amount it took to decode the human genome.

You can do a lot with that kind of money, but one thing you can’t do, evidently, is run a company called Uber while also treating customers and drivers fairly.

The $50-billion company that upended the for-hire car industry is receiving appropriate scrutiny for its impact on local economies, jobs, the environment and civil liberties. And it’s not alone. Other businesses operating in the so-called “sharing economy” are also proving to create as many problems as they solve.

To be fair, I am a frequent Uber user, my home has sometimes been listed on AirBnB and I’ve had groceries delivered by Instacart. But as I use these services, I find myself thinking about who is sharing in the newfound success of these companies — and more importantly, who …