Reverse Technology Assessment in the Age of the Platform Economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-27
Author(s):  
Koen Frenken ◽  
Peter Pelzer
Keyword(s):  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Market Exchange ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
Public Interests ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Local Initiatives ◽  
Constructive Technology Assessment ◽  
Platform Economy

The rise of what is often referred to as the sharing economy is among the most daring challenges for cities around the world. Sharing platforms create opportunities for efficient market exchange, but also cause negative externalities for city dwellers. A challenge for city authorities is that platforms can be launched without ex ante assessment of externalities and public interests, leaving public debate and political deliberation ex post affairs. We call the platform innovation logic 'reverse technology assessment', which obstructs participatory planning and constructive technology assessment. We discuss the potential of an alternative policy framework known as 'right to challenge'. We end with a broader reflection on public policy regarding sharing platforms at different scalar levels, emphasizing local initiatives to develop alternative sharing platforms.

Platform economy as a new form of capitalism: a Régulationist research programme

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 805-824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthieu Montalban ◽  
Vincent Frigant ◽  
Bernard Jullien
Keyword(s):  
Research Programme ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Growth Regime ◽  
Long Run ◽  
New Process ◽  
New Form ◽  
Platform Economy ◽  
Mode Of Regulation

AbstractThe terms ‘platform economy’ or ‘sharing economy’ have become widespread with the development of digital platforms like Uber. This economy is transforming capitalism and raising important questions about its nature. Is it a new process of embeddedness or is it the next step for deregulation following the crisis of the financialised regime of accumulation (RA)? Is it a possible new Growth Regime? Using the approach of the French Régulation school of thought, we describe the nature and transformations of the form of competition inherent in platforms. Although this may favour some forms of re-embeddedness, we show that it will accelerate some of the trends and characteristics of the institutional forms of the financialised RA and that it is an endogenous product of its crisis. This raises further questions and uncertainties related to the ability of platforms to generate stable long run growth due to the dysfunctionality of the mode of régulation and the conflicts it could generate.

scholarly journals Constructive Technology Assessment: Systematic Review and Future Study Needs

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (55) ◽  
pp. e12459
Author(s):  
Óscar Iván Rodríguez-Cardoso ◽  
Vladimir Alfonso Ballesteros-Ballesteros ◽  
Manuel Francisco Romero-Ospina
Keyword(s):  
Future Study ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
European Model ◽  
Technological Assessment ◽  
Constructive Technology Assessment

Engineering, understood as the gathering of scientific and technological knowledge for innovation, creation, advancement and optimization of techniques, as well as a set of useful tools to meet social needs and solve technical problems of both individuals and the community, makes its main actors, engineers, key players in sustainable development and in the creation of alternatives that minimize the negative effects of technology on society. It is in this sense that technology assessment approaches should take importance among those who manage technology development and implementation policies. Generally, the undesirable effects of the intrusion of a new technology are acted upon when they already occur, and technology assessment is intended to anticipate the risk. This paper presents a bibliographic review of technology assessment, its approaches and future study needs. Based on an articulating axis that positions technological change and innovation as an imperative need for social development, an exhaustive review of related articles in specialized databases was carried out. The most important results of this work reveal that the field of technological assessment has been strongly inclined towards the health or sanitary sector; however, research is being developed in central engineering topics such as the development of nanotechnology, robotics, and the handling of big data, where the European model stands out as a reference for technological assessment processes due to its inclusive and democratic nature.

The Politics of the Sharing Economy

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-36
Author(s):  
David Murillo
Keyword(s):  
Venture Capital ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Private Equity ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Moving Target ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Platform Economy ◽  
Academic Debate

The current academic debate on the sharing economy (SE) seems to embrace three main discussions: its definition, its effects, and the role of regulation. A neglected topic here seems to be analyzing the specific implications of the changing nature of these firms boosted by private equity and venture capital. As the author points out, we need to analyze not only the impact of a changing business model but, specifically, how stakeholders, cities, and regulators should approach this moving target now called SE. In the following sections the author departs from a traditional definition of the sharing economy to start building the case for treating the SE at large as an epiphenomenon of the platform economy, and as a temporary condition based on a moveable business model. The chapter closes by introducing the regulatory hurdles that come associated with the previous and mapping out its different futures.

The (mis)recognition of diversity in Italy between policy and practice: The case of Milan

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alba Angelucci ◽  
Roberta Marzorati ◽  
Eduardo Barberis
Keyword(s):  
Urban Policy ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Meso Level ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
National Model ◽  
Local Initiatives ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The City

The article analyses the discourses, strategies and daily practices about diversity in Milan, Italy, framing them at different scales: (a) the national model of integration; (b) the city-level debate and policy framework about diversity; (c) the neighbourhood-level initiatives addressing (directly or indirectly) diversity; (d) representations and narratives about diversity among the residents of two neighbourhoods in the city. Drawing on qualitative research conducted between 2013 and 2015 with 33 interviews with key officials and policymakers and 52 interviews with inhabitants of two neighbourhoods in Milan, this work aims at disentangling how multi-scalar representations intertwine and intersect, to what extent the different scales influence each other and with what consequences on the multi-level governance of urban diversity. Considering both the bottom-up and the top-down perspectives, the results will highlight the detachment between people’s narratives and representations and the local and national frameworks of discourses and policy practice, especially focusing on the reasons for and consequences of this detachment, and on the role that the meso level of local initiatives has in connecting the macro and the micro levels. The focus on the meso level allows one to underline the weaknesses and potentialities of the urban policy level in fostering the production of an institutional environment that is able to acknowledge and promote diversity.

scholarly journals How does relationship-based governance accommodate new entrants? Evidence from the cycle-rickshaw rental market

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 673-697
Author(s):  
TARUN JAIN ◽  
ASHIMA SOOD
Keyword(s):  
Central India ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Market Exchange ◽  
Migrant Status ◽  
Rental Market ◽  
Market Expansion ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
New Entrants ◽  
New Perspective

AbstractRelationship-based contract enforcement is commonly thought to limit market expansion. In contrast, this paper illustrates how relationship-based contract governance accommodates new entrants into market exchange using a case study of the cycle-rickshaw rental market in a city in central India. Migrants face a higher penalty for default that introduces a gap between the ex ante risk for out-of-network agents and the ex post risk. As a result, cycle-rickshaw owners are more likely to rent to migrants and migrants are more likely to participate in rental contracts. With primary data on multidimensional measures of migrant status, we confirm that migrant status is a significant predictor of rental contract participation, even controlling for other variables that moderate the rickshaw driver's ability to own a cycle-rickshaw. Our findings thus introduce a new perspective into current understandings of relationship-based contract governance.

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