Why It's So Hard to Figure Out the Sharing Economy's Winners and Losers

One of the big questions surrounding the "sharing economy" is what it will mean for the regular economy, or, rather, those businesses in it that sell consumers stuff and services the old-school way. How will ride-sharing and e-hailing disrupt the taxi industry (or even the car-sales market)? We've already seen that traditional car-rental companies have been forced to adjust. Likewise, how will short-term apartment rentals impact hotels, or food-swaps impact restaurants, or tool-sharing sites impact Home Depot?

Part of the answer comes down to whether these platforms are creating new kinds of demand, or whether they're meeting demand for things we were already buying. Maybe you don't need to go to the hardware store now that you can rent a jackhammer from your neighbor. Or maybe you were never going to do that jackhammering project unless you could just borrow the thing from someone else. If that's the case, the hardware store didn't really lose your business. (Third scenario: now that you've borrowed said jackhammer, you need to buy some bricks.)