The Sharing Economy Puzzle An Overview Case of Airbnb

The sharing economy is a fast-growing sector characterized by the sharing of underutilized assets or services, and its growth is largely driven by the emergence of digital platforms and applications. Using logistic regression models, this paper explores the relationship between landlords propensity to block their listings (Blocking) and consecutive renting (Consecutive Renting), using real data on rental and property characteristics. Part V examines its broader economic implications: the consumer. The Global Policy Initiative also produces similar papers on broader issues, including how to estimate consumer surplus gains and how American hotels lost from the rise of Airbnb, e.g., by harming the traditional hotel sector. The results indicate consecutive renting significantly decreases the probability of blocking. We also show that features such as the historical number of blocked days and occupancy rate affect future blocking behavior. From a macro-aware point of view, Airbnb produced massive consumer surplus, particularly for low-income consumers, while with competition against traditional hotels. Lastly, the paper discusses the methodological approaches for quantifying the consumer benefits within peer-to-peer (P2P) rental platforms.