Can the Share Economy Conquer Stagflation?

Abstract

This paper analyzes Weitzman's contention that a share economy will significantly improve the unemployment-inflation tradeoff. It is shown that the argument rests on a critical proposition that share contracts lead to labor's being in perpetual excess demand. The basis of this proposition is challenged using a wide variety of models of the labor market. The paper concludes that the microeconomics of share economies differs little from that of wage economies, and that a widespread introduction of share contracts is unlikely to improve macroeconomic performance.