The Struggle to Share: Why National Governments in Europe Respond Differently to the Introduction of Sharing Economy Platforms into Traditional Service Sectors

The Struggle to Share: Why National Governments in Europe Respond Differently to the Introduction of Sharing Economy Platforms into Traditional Service Sectors

The rapid growth of sharing economy platforms such as Uber and Airbnb have garnered harsh criticism from national governments around the world. In the U.S. where these platforms originated, legal battles across the states are still on going, but robust public demand and support for these platforms ensure that lawmakers do not regulate them out of existence. In Europe, public engagement has yet to reach the point in which it will seriously affect the regulatory dispositions of lawmakers, as outlined in this paper. For this reason, it is apparent that European states are focusing more heavily on other factors outside of consumer demand. This paper examines the regulatory crackdowns in Italy on ridesharing and France on home-sharing to identify the predominant factors that are leading governments to impose tough restrictions on these companies. By identifying unremarkable levels of public opinion, current and past political landscapes that heavily favor traditional service providers, and differing environments for innovation, it is evident that the leading contributors to a more regulated Europe are largely caused by the political capital of interests groups as well as cultural and historical aspects such as long-standing protection of taxi unions and the affinity for centralized government control, both of which, are difficult to maintain in the presence of the sharing economy.