Englisch BHS, Maturatraining mit Audio-CD

28 Reading The rise of the sharing economy Read the text about the sharing economy. First decide whether the statements (1–8) are true (T) or false (F) and put a cross ( ) in the correct box. Then identify the sentence in the text which supports your decision. Write the first four words of this sentence in the space provided. There may be more than one answer; write down only one. The first one (0) has been done for you. 10 e rise of the sharing economy Last night 40,000 people rented accommodation from a service that o†ers 250,000 rooms in 30,000 cities in 192 countries. ey chose their rooms and paid for everything online. But their beds were provided by private individuals, rather than a hotel chain. Hosts and guests were matched up by Airbnb, a –rm based in San Francisco. Since its launch in 2008 more than 4 million people have used it – 2.5 million of them in 2012 alone. It is the most prominent example of a huge new ‘sharing economy’, in which people rent beds, boats, cars and other assets directly from each other, coordinated via the internet. You might think this is no di†erent from running a bed and breakfast, owning a timeshare or participating in a carpool. But technology has reduced transaction costs, making sharing assets cheaper and easier than ever – and therefore possible on a much larger scale. e big change is the availability of more data about people and things. Before the internet, renting a surµoard, a power tool or a parking space from someone else was feasible, but usually more trouble than it was worth. Now websites such as Airbnb, RelayRides and SnapGoods match up owners and renters, smartphones with GPS let people see where the nearest rentable car is parked, social networks provide a way to check up on people and build trust, and online payment systems handle the billing. Just as businesses like eBay allow anyone to become a retailer, sharing sites allow anyone to become an impromptu taxi service, car hire or boutique hotel, as and when it suits them. Just go online or download an app. e model works for items that are expensive to buy and are widely owned by people who don’t make full use of them. Bedrooms and cars are the most obvious examples, but you can also rent camping spaces in Sweden, –elds in Australia and washing machines in France. As proponents of the sharing economy like to put it: access beats ownership. Such ‘collaborative consumption’ is a good thing for several reasons. Owners make money from underused assets. Hosts in San Francisco who rent out their homes for an average of 58 nights per year make $9,300. Car owners who rent out their vehicles to others make an average of $250 a month, some make more than $1,000. Renters meanwhile pay less than they would if they bought the item themselves or turned to a traditional provider such as a hotel or car hire –rm. And renting a car when you need it, rather than owning one, means fewer cars on the roads and fewer resources used in making them, which brings environmental bene–ts. e sharing economy is a little like online shopping, which started in America 15 years ago. At –rst people were worried about security, but having made a successful purchase from, say, Amazon they felt safe buying elsewhere. eBay started out as a peer-to-peer marketplace, now it is dominated by professional ‘power sellers’ (many of whom started out as ordinary eBay users). e same may happen with the sharing economy, which also provides opportunities for enterprise. e sharing economy is the latest example of the internet’s value to consumers. In the past, new ways of doing things online did not displace the old ways entirely. ey o en changed them, however. Just as internet shopping forced Walmart and Tesco to adapt, online sharing will shake up transport, tourism, equipment hire and more. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv