Sheared

In January 2016, tempers flared at San Francisco’s international airport as cab drivers, many of them recent immigrants to the country, protested low margins, excessive competition and an overbearing parent firm. The demonstration, featuring honking, yelling and blocked traffic, mirrored similar occurrences in other U.S. cities in the past year. But the protestors were not traditional taxi drivers protesting Uber; they were Uber drivers protesting Uber.

Call this Sharing Economy 2.0, as what appeared to be predators only months previously become victims of the very technology-fuelled change they spearheaded. Or this might simply be structural change playing out as it has throughout human history. Technological advancement brings gains to some and displaces others. The gainers in turn are displaced in the next wave of technological change.

The difference, as Tom Slee points out in What’s Yours Is Mine: Against the Sharing Economy, his excellent and...