[thaddeusmt]

Long term I see the "sharing economy" being driven by resource scarcity (i.e. it's not practical for every human on earth to have a car), but I totally agree that right now it's often driven by job scarcity.

In my limited experiences with AirBnB people on the supply side either approach "sharing" as a fun hobby (e.g. "stay in our cute guest house!"), or they are truly trying to make ends meet.

True story: I AirBnB'd once and the guy rented out his own bed to us, and slept on the couch (and his girlfriend stayed over! on the couch!). Another roommate was AirBnB'ing a room in the same house, too. I think they were both trying to pay their rent share via AirBnB. Nice guys - we felt welcome and had a good time - but money was not "secondary" to them.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

"I think they were both trying to pay their rent share via AirBnB" ... "but money was not 'secondary' to them" - conjecture. Counter example: If I can rent my room out once a week for $50, consistently for 10 years, and invest that money at 10% (any typical Australian bluechip stock) represents a $44,383 gain over ten years. Why am I not doing this? (edit for clarity)