1. Why is Uber willing to let drivers be flexible in the number of hours they work? Recent years have seen an increase in what has been termed the “sharing economy,” in which people use their own personal goods to produce services for sale to others.

Common examples include apartment and car sharing of one sort or another, typically mediated by some third party.

Among the fastest growing of these shared economy companies is Uber.

Uber began in early 2012 with a simple idea. A central coordinator, using information technology, would match people who were available to use their own cars to drive people around with people who wanted a ride. The central coordinator would set some rules, including prices and qualifications, and in turn would share proceeds with the drivers

(or driver-partners as Uber termed them). A new occupation was born with features that appealed to a different set of people than traditional cab driving.