More for Less? Sharing Economy as a Driver of Public Welfare Innovation

The emergence of the term ‘sharing economy’ has evoked hopes for a more sustainable future, as well as fears of a rawer capitalism (Martin, 2016). In this context, the state is called upon in its capacity as regulator, which must counteract problems created by the sharing economy. Increasingly, however, the public sector is also called upon to renew and reinvent itself from the very model of sharing economy. In this context, ‘sharing economy’ not only refers to an emergent new economic order, but also to an organizational form that unsettles the state itself (Lovink & Rossiter, 2019). The idea of ‘sharing’ as the digitally mediated distribution of access to underused resources, here comes into sight as a possible way to address the pressure of complex problems, ageing populations, and tight budgets that many western welfare states currently face (give&take.eu; Vive, 2017).