3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
People in Luxembourg and around the world are already transferring bits and pieces of their
economic life to the Sharing Economy. Prosumers are not only producing and sharing their own
information, news, knowledge, entertainment, green energy, transportation, and 3D-printed
products in the Sharing Economy at near zero marginal cost. Forty percent of the US population
is actively engaged in sharing homes, toys, tools, and countless other items. For example,
millions of apartment dwellers and home owners are sharing their living quarters with millions
of travelers, at near zero marginal cost, using online services like Airbnb and Couchsurfing. In
New York City alone, Airbnb’s 416,000 guests who stayed in houses and apartments between
2012 and 2013 cost the New York hotel industry 1 million lost room nights.
Source: Benita Matofska (2015) What we Know about the Global Sharing Economy,
Compare and Share, March 2015, http://www.thepeoplewhoshare.com/reports/
The exponential growth of the Sharing Economy raises a number of critical policy and
regulatory questions that will need to be addressed by Luxembourg. New regulations will have
to be enacted to ensure the social security benefits of a growing freelance workforce.
Additional regulatory policies will need to be adopted to promote a level playing field between
the market economy and the Sharing Economy.
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