The Collaborative Economy in Action: European Perspectives

Abstract

The main aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of the collaborative economy (CE) in European countries with a variety of its aspects for a deeper understanding of the phenomenon as a whole. In July 2017, an open call for country reports was distributed among the members of the COST Action Sharing and Caring. Representatives of the member countries were invited to produce short country reports. The Member Countries Report on the Collaborative Economy, edited by Gaia Mosconi, Agnieszka Lukasiewicz, and Gabriela Avram (2018) that was published on the Sharing and Caring website, represented its first synergetic outcome and provided an overview of the CE phenomenon as interpreted and manifested in each of the countries part of the network. Additionally, Sergio Nassare-Aznar, Kosjenka Dumančić, and Giulia Priora compiled a Preliminary Legal Analysis of Country Reports on Cases of Collaborative Economy (2018). After undertaking an analysis of the previous reports’ strengths and weaknesses, the a call for an updated version of these country reports was launched. Prof. Ann Light advised the editorial team, proposing a new format for country reports and 4000 words limit. The task force that had supported the production of the first series of country reports (Dimitar Trajanov, Maria del Mar Alonso, Bálint Balázs, Kosjenka Dumančić, and Gabriela Avram) acted as mentors for the teams of authors in each country. The final reports arrived at the end of 2018, bringing the total number of submissions to 30. A call for book editors was issued, and a new editorial team was formed: Andrzej Klimczuk, Vida Česnuitytė, Cristina Miguel, Santa Mijalche, Gabriela Avram, Bori Simonovits, Bálint Balázs, Kostas Stefanidis, and Rafael Laurenti. The editorial team organized the double-blind reviews of reports and communicated to the authors the requirements for improving their texts. After reviews, the authors submitted updated versions of their country reports providing up-to-date interdisciplinary analysis on the state of the CE in 2019, when the reports were collected. During the final phase, the chapters were again reviewed by the lead editors together with all editorial team members. At the time, the intention was to update these reports again just before the end of the COST Action Sharing and Caring in 2021 and to produce a third edition. However, the COVID-19 pandemic changed these plans.