Documents Petropoulos, Georgios 6 results

"The collaborative economy matches people online who want to share assets and services. This Policy Contribution: i) discusses how the collaborative economy can be defined; ii) provides an overview of evidence about its potential benefits for European economies and the impact of specific platforms in the sectors of their operation; iii) illustrates the criteria that enable professional and non-professional services offered through collaborative platforms to be distinguished; iv) recommends priorities for the platforms so that they can create a safe and transparent environment for the transactions of their users; v) discusses further regulatory concerns and how they should be approached.

The collaborative economy is characterised by a great variety of business models. It spans multiple sectors each of which has its own market characteristics. A single definition is therefore beyond reach. However, a common element in the majority of business models is the use of under-utilised assets for the extraction of economic benefits.

There is evidence that Europe could enjoy major economic gains from the collaborative economy, especially if barriers are removed and the regulatory framework is adjusted to better accommodate platforms. However, in particular sectors such as ride-sharing and short-term accommodation, the benefits from the operation of platforms come at a cost because platforms can have a detrimental effect on ‘traditional' incumbent operators. The technology is thus disruptive to many traditional businesses.

While under EU legislation it is not clear when services supplied through collaborative platforms can be classified as professional, a careful examination of business models on a case-by-case basis can help to define some relevant criteria. The frequency with which a service is provided, the provider's motive and the associated remuneration are three important aspects that enable professional and non-professional services to be distinguished.

As intermediaries, collaborative platforms have access to a large volume of information about the market and about their users, which is not available to other market participants or the regulator. Consumer protection requires a safe and transparent environment for transactions. Platforms based on their market position could be very helpful with this respect.

Legal certainty and regulatory clarity are also required to incentivise further investment in efficient information technologies and platforms. The current uncertainty over the status of the collaborative economy platforms, legal disputes in national and European courts and decisions to restrict the operation of platforms at local/city levels create an environment in which it is difficult to attract new investment in Europe.

Regulatory authorities should move quickly to define the framework of the operation of such platforms to restore investors' confidence. Local regulation is very important for defining the operational framework of collaborative platforms that can bring the greatest benefits to local economies. But an EU-wide approach is also needed to define the general framework of the operation of these platforms and to address in a decisive and clear way the associated regulatory concerns."

"The authors of this working paper study the impact of industrial robots on employment and wages in six European Union countries, which make up 85.5 percent of the EU industrial robots market.

In theory, robots can directly displace workers from performing specific tasks (displacement effect). But they can also expand labour demand through the efficiencies they bring to industrial production (productivity effect). The research adopts the local labour market equilibrium approach developed by Acemoglu and Restrepo (2017) to assess which of the two labour market effects dominates.

The authors find that one additional robot per thousand workers reduces the employment rate by 0.16-0.20 percentage points. Thus a significant displacement effect dominates. The displacement effect is particularly evident for workers of middle education and for young cohorts, while men are more affected than women. Estimates, however, do not point to robust and significant results on the impact of robots on wage growth, even after accounting for possible offsetting effects across different populations and sectoral groups."

"We study the nature and geography of occupational change in 24 European Union countries from 2002 to 2016. We evaluate how the composition of skills in the labour force depends on new technologies enabled by artificial intelligence and machine learning, and on institutional variables including educational attainment, labour legislation and product market regulations.

We find that on average, EU countries have been through an upgrading of the skills of their occupational structures, rather than a pervasive polarisation. However, job polarisation is significant for workers without university degrees. Moreover, the European debt crisis has led to some job polarisation, which is particularly evident in urban centres. The changes in occupational structures appear to vary substantially across European Union regions. Cities, followed by suburban areas and towns, have suffered the largest declines in mid-skilled jobs. On the potential impact of new technologies, we find that low-skill mid-skill jobs are significantly exposed.

Occupational changes caused by these technologies are likely to be more concentrated in cities and suburban areas. Last but not least, countries with high degrees of labour flexibility, high quality science education and less pervasive product market regulations tend to have higher skill-oriented occupational structures."