How can “sharing economy” enterprises, like taxi-finding scheme Uber, be “a throwback to … when villages used to share” based on personal trust, yet also generate Luddite protests of a similar pre-industrial mindset (Uber bears brunt of sharing economy backlash, 27 June)? Perhaps it’s because Uber et al are not unleashing “new sources of economic activity” at all. Isn’t it simply another corporate finance initiative (with a pre-flotation estimate of $17bn) to transfer income streams away from regulated trades and occupations to big business on the basis of more precarious, casual work?
Bryn Jones
University of Bath
