a16z Podcast: An Economics Take on the Sharing Economy

Disconnect between GDP and progress.  The Sharing economy could trigger the shift away from GDP

  1. There’s a lot of value from psychological progress: consumer surplus.  GDP doesn’t measure that.
  2. Distribution: it’s not measuring inequality
  3. Other quality of life measures: work-life balance, flexibility, other opportunities

Impacts of Sharing Economies

  1. Increasing through efficiencies
  2. Greater variety leads to increased consumption
  3. Shifting from employees: providers of labor, to owners of means of production: could decrease inequality.
  4. We may lose economies of scale, but we will regain.

Transitions to firm-market hybrids