An experimental model of regulating the sharing economy in China: The case of online car hailing

Online car hailing represents a disruptive innovation model in the sharing economy and requires a new regulatory response. China's attempts to regulate this emerging industry can be considered highly experimental model. To relieve the pressure from offline competitors and to clarify the ambiguous legal status of online car hailing, China currently enforces a strict regulatory scheme through what can be described as a central-local dual system. Questions, however, have arisen regarding the legality, proportionality and effectiveness of this approach. Moreover, the current system's choice for a segmented market strategy heavily impairs the sustainable development of the sharing economy. Therefore, the adoption of Internet-based regulations for online car hailing might create better prospects to establish a fairly competitive market as well as to further boost the ever dynamic Internet sharing economy in China. (C) 2019 Hongzhen Jiang and Xiaoyu Zhang. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.