Peer-to-Peer Economy Thrives as Activists Vacate the SystemEric Blair Progressives may call it the sharing economy while Libertarians may refer to it as Agorism a society in which all relations between people are voluntary exchangesby means ofcounter-economics, thus engaging in a manner with aspects ofpeaceful revolution. Whatever its called, together, theyre opting out of the current socioeconomic matrix and creating a new alternative economy where trading occurs peer-to-peer and increasingly without government-issued currency. Its a space where mutual trade occurs without burdensome taxes, regulations, or licenses. Simply put, its an underground black market enabled by the Internet and regulated by social feedback mechanisms and its growing exponentially. Websites like Ebay and Craigslist first made it possible for individuals to sell things or offer services online. Then there was Elance to sell our skills and Freecycle to recycle unused items. And now there are new services that allow users to sublet their stuff; likeAirBnBwhich allows you to rent out a room in your house,Lyftfor car pooling or Relay Rides to rent out your car for an hour, orSnap Goods to rent out idle tools or anything else. In addition to sharing stuff, people are shunning banks by using crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platforms for raising capital, and digital currencies like Bitcoinare enabling the under-the-table sale of a swelling number of goods and services. The Economistdescribes this movement as follows: Just as peer-to-peer businesses like eBay allow anyone to become a retailer, sharing sites let individuals act as an ad hoc taxi service, car-hire firm or boutique hotel as and when it suits them. Just go online or download an app. The model works for items that are expensive to buy and are widely owned by people who do not make full use of them. This new decentralized economic model is an obvious threat to the command-and-control economy. Its shifting billions of dollars out from traditional industries undermining government regulation and tax collection. As such, governments are clamoring to regulate voluntary person-to-person barter. Authorities claim that these services are in some way unsafe and must be regulated. Yet as the Economist video above explains, surprisingly few cases of fraud are reported. Whats more, Wired points out that reputation is replacing regulation in the peer-to-peer economy and is proving to be much more effective: By making both product and trader quality instantly transparent, this approach reduces the risks that often lead to market failure. It also provides a first digital safeguard against much of what regulators aim to protect consumers from. After all, profit is a much more powerful driver for quality than regulatory compliance. If your last customer one who has been vetted by others and has built reputation credibility complains about the hygiene levels of your shared lodging, your future business prospects on Airbnb are pretty bleak. The technology for transaction-by-transaction feedback from buyers and sellers provides more than enough trust for participants to be comfortable without oversight by government regulators. This fact makes any attempt by authorities to disturb this market seem protectionist or extortionist. Sharing economy leaders are forming a lobby group called PEERS in an attempt to combat potential regulations: Why do we need any regulations for volunteering at a garden cooperative or choosing the best childcare provider as recommended by our peers? Surely any possible dispute could be handled within the community or a civil court, right? Additionally AirBnB and Relay Rides offer insurance to mitigate foreseeable problems. As such, this market is rendering government regulations obsolete. There may be many different motivations for those participating in this marketplace, but activists seem to all agree, as Buckminster Fuller said, You never change things by fighting the existing reality.To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Recently by Eric Blair: 