what is the sharing economy 
the sharing economy is a peer to peer p2p economic model it facilitates acquiring providing or sharing access to goods and services sharing economies have existed throughout history but in modern times the sharing economy is experiencing a revival with the support of community based online platforms understanding the sharing economycommunities of people have shared assets for thousands of years in modern times the advent of the internet and its use of big data has made it easier for asset owners and those seeking to use those assets to find each other within their communities the modern sharing economy is also referred to as the share economy collaborative consumption collaborative economy or peer economy sharing economies allow individuals and groups to make money from their underused assets their free time or both in a sharing economy idle assets such as parked cars and spare bedrooms can be rented out short term in this way physical assets are shared as services a car sharing service like zipcar is an example of a sharing economy service zipcar participants can make use of daily or hourly car rentals with the vehicles parked close to their homes rather than at a traditional car rental agency rather than owning a private vehicle according to data from the brookings institute private vehicles went unused for 95 of their lifetime in 2017 the same report detailed airbnb s cost advantage over hotel space as homeowners made use of spare bedrooms airbnb rates were reported to be between 30 60 cheaper than hotel rates around the world 1