Now Is the Time for a Sharing Economy Policy

 ■Now Is the Time for a Sharing Economy Policy

The “Sharing Economy Evaluation Meeting” was held by the Cabinet Secretariat IT Headquarters.

The biggest issue for the sharing economy is to improve the users’ “sense of assurance.” It is important to enhance safety and assurance measures. However, this requires costs and could serve as a barrier to entry that benefits existing major players. Regulations on platforms have been advanced to promote growth with self-regulation serving as the axis for sharing economy policy. I believe that a good effort is being made in this region of policy.

According to PwC, recognition of sharing economy services increased from 31% in 2017 to 42% in 2018, although utilization experience was 13%. Shared services for goods, means of transportation, and locations have recognition of over 60%, but for sharing skills, recognition is less than 40%. This demonstrates how it is an area of growth.

I believe that services involving the sharing of skills and time, which everybody has, have the most room for growth. People have hopes for the sharing economy in the context of economic growth, as the market is said to be worth 1-2 trillion yen, but there are also economies that shrink due to optimization and alternative markets. Finally, it is not reflected in GDP. How can it be measured as an economy?

According to “Digital Capitalism,” people have felt that their living standards have improved since around 2010. Although GDP is stagnant, the quality of life has gotten better.

Clearly, this is the result of IT growth and the sharing economy. However, it is difficult for this importance to be recognized because there are no ways of indicating this as an economy.

In the sharing economy, there is a possibility that producer surplus and GDP will go down. Conventional economic indices will move in a negative direction. On the other hand, there are no indices for subjective elements like consumer surplus, the feeling of a good deal, and satisfaction.

Because it increases these elements, I believe that the sharing economy has not been assessed properly.

The white paper on telecommunications made an effort to measure consumer surplus, but there is still a shortage of research. This would be impossible to do in Japan alone, as there is a need to gather international wisdom. Perhaps this would be a good theme for Japan to present to the G20 or OECD. I believe that preparing an environment for business ventures and establishing an international index would be a good theme for policy.