Sharing economy and public governance

Abstract

The term sharing economy is used in specialized literature to identify how the Internet, smartphones, and applications are changing the global economic dynamic. This article presents documentary research focused on private sharing applications that have emerged in recent decades, intending to contribute to the improvement of local public management. Descriptive data analysis and regression were used to characterize the local governments’ adherence to new technologies and to identify how these new technologies affect the fiscal performance of municipalities measured by the FIRJAN Fiscal Management Index. The results obtained show that shared economy Apps can contribute in different ways, with emphasis on greater cooperation and coordination within and between local governments, reduction in the underutilization of assets, greater access and improvement in the quality of public services, and greater interaction and citizen participation in public decisions. The estimated regression shows that the use of new communication technologies contributes to improving the municipalities’ fiscal performance. However, these technologies are little used and should be encouraged in local public administrations.

Keywords:
shared economy; counties; local public management