Sharing economy
Also called: Collaborative consumption · Topic: Sectors of the Indian Economy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The sharing economy is a model in which ordinary people rent out or share assets they do not fully use, such as a spare room, an empty car seat or a tool, usually through an app. The owner earns extra income, and the user pays less than buying the item or using a hotel or taxi. It is mostly a tertiary (service) activity. It matters because it gets more use out of things that already exist.
Example
A family in a hill town lists a spare room as a homestay on an app and earns from tourists. An office worker offers the empty seats in their car to colleagues going the same way, and they split fuel costs.
Don't confuse with
- Gig economy: gig workers mainly sell their time and labour task by task, as delivery riders do. In the sharing economy people mainly earn from an asset they own.