In a recent article on Livemint.com, Haresh Chawla discusses the "sharing economy." 

"How people utilize, access infrastructure and resources is changing. It is a new way of consumption where people value ease of access over the emotional need for ownership. It holds the potential to free people’s time, effort and resources; they can focus on getting the job done on a need-to-know basis as opposed to owning and maintaining assets."

In addition, Chawla points out:

1. It sweats assets harder and maximizes utilization. Your cars and trucks can run further, your space can be rented out longer and your factories can run more shifts. You can even extend this to your camera gear, which you use only during vacations.
2. It makes the assets accessible at a fraction of the cost—both in terms of money and time. It is often cheaper and quicker to set up and get moving when you are renting an asset. This becomes a productivity multiplier.
3. In turn, this brings down entry barriers for new businesses. They can instead share resources and focus on their value proposition than bother about infrastructure. This holds the potential to destroy older businesses that have failed to innovate, and depend on legacy and infrastructure as competitive advantages.
4. Time, skills and talent can be shared as well. It can make a micro-entrepreneur out of every one of us.

Chawla does a good job of pointing out HOW the sharing economy is disrupting traditional businesses, but he doesn't address the WHY in this article, which we feel is just as important.

The sharing economy, which is also knows as the collaborative economy and collaborative consumption, is growing because consumers are demanding it. They want something new, different, and psychologically rewarding.

Here are a few reasons WHY the sharing economy is moving forward at such a fast pace:

1. People are looking for a sense of community.
2. People are looking for experiences, not products or services.
3. People are looking for trust.
4. People want an independent lifestyle.
5. People are looking for green solutions.
6. People are looking for alternative ways to make money.
7. People have amazing computing power in their hands 24/7.