We may have reached peak “gig” economy

Re:We may have reached peak “gig” economy by Ntrails on Monday February 06, 2017 @08:52AM (#13579383)

One of the AirBnBs I crashed at when I was between permanent residences was a 2 bed apartment operated by a lovely Polish couple. They rented out both the bedrooms and had converted the living room into a permanent bedsit for themselves in order to make ends meet living in a reasonable part of London.

I'm not sure whether the ability to do this truly empowered them, whether the life with it is better than the alternative. Clearly they judge it to be.

On the other hand was a chap renting out his spare room who loved being a host, chatting to the people he met etc etc. He was definitely happier with it.

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Re:We may have reached peak “gig” economy by conjectures on Monday February 06, 2017 @11:39AM (#13581139)

The danger is that the experience of your London hosts becomes normalised and the market rent rises to match it.

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Re:We may have reached peak “gig” economy by jstanley on Tuesday February 07, 2017 @01:50AM (#13587628)

That's not how market forces work. If you increase the supply, the price goes down, not up.

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Re:We may have reached peak “gig” economy by conjectures on Tuesday February 07, 2017 @07:17AM (#13588837)

You're probably overlooking the change in the quality of the good. Demand in London is highly elastic. If a lot of new sleeping units come on to the market, they will be filled easily because lots of people want to live there.

Now suppose we divide old units of accommodation priced £ in two (halve the slope of the supply curve). The price of a new unit will be close to £. But an old unit then costs nearly 2£. So you have a choice between slum housing and coughing up double the rent.

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