We are happy to announce that the CRIDES has been awarded with a grant by the European Commission (Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Actions) to conduct a research in the field of the sharing economy (SHINE. SHaring Economy and INequalities across Europe).
The CRIDES is going to expand its consolidated line of investigation on the sharing economy sector within a network of European partners:
- the research group of Market Regulation and Digital Transformation of the University of Valencia (Network’s coordinator)
- the Observatory of Analysis and Evaluation of Public Policies of the University of Barcelona
- the University of Bologna and
- the University of Palermo.
The joint initiative is going to focus on the social and economic consequences of the different models of market regulation and digital intermediation in the so-called “sharing economy”, as well as on the policy responses to cope with the emerging forms of inequalities that these models are exacerbating.
The activities of the SHINE Network, which will run from 2019 to 2022, will include not only academic research, but also training courses and collaboration with institutions and other economic agents, such as public administrations and technological poles in various European countries.
With a budget close to 400,000 euros, co-funded by the Commission up to € 299,876.01, the network also aims to hold various scientific conferences and academic events on the two core topics of the network: the regulation of collaborative economy in the field of transportation and accommodation, and the legal issues related to algorithmic discrimination that can be generated by the mechanisms adopted by the digital intermediary (reviews and ratings).
The research team of the CRIDES (Rossana Ducato, Enguerrand Marique and Alain Strowel) will specifically focus on the WP “digital discrimination in the sharing economy: pitfalls and legal design strategies for online platforms”.
Such issue has been investigated in the US literature prominently. While, the discrimination problems and their link with the design of the architecture of sharing economy’s platforms have not been equally addressed in the European context. The goal of the research is precisely to fill this gap, by contributing to a deeper understanding of such a phenomenon in Europe and the compliance of current practices with the European framework of non-discrimination law, as interpreted by the European Court of Justice.
Such initiative will also perfectly fit and be developed in liaise with the newly awarded UCLouvain-UNamur project PROSeCO.
The first initiative of the SHINE network is already out: on November 20-22, 2019, the University of Valencia organises the international conference on the regulation of the sharing economy.
You can find the call for paper here: http://esdeveniments.uv.es/37673/detail/international-conference-on-the-regulation-of-the-sharing-economy.html