Uber and AirBnB are just two of the most high-profile examples of what’s been dubbed the Sharing Economy. Proponents argue this new trend has the potential to transform capitalism and our attitudes towards ownership. But isn’t this just a way to make do and mend? The panellists in this debate filmed at the Battle of Ideas don’t hold back, arguing that the desire to re-use and share existing goods is a sign of our economic woes rather than entrepreneurial dynamism and that if our time, property and possessions can be hired by anyone at the right price, then our relationships will be based on transaction rather than trust.
The chair is Martyn Perks, digital business consultant and co-author of Big Potatoes: the London manifesto for innovation, and the panellists are Lesley Curwen, business, economics and personal finance journalist at the BBC, Rob Killick, CEO of Clerkswell, Benita Matsofka, chief sharer at Compare And Share, and Eva Pascoe, chair of the digital network, Cybersalon, and the co-founder of Cyberia, the world’s first internet café.
