Arun Sundararajan

Arun Sundararajan is an Indian American author, academic and researcher. He is a Professor of Information, Operations and Management Sciences at New York University's Stern School of Business as well as an economist and leading authority on the digital economy. He is the author of "The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism," a book that offers a comprehensive and authoritative look at the sharing economy and its implications for employment, labor markets, economics, and society.

Arun Sundararajan was born in India, raised in Tennessee and earned his B.A., M.A., and PhD degrees in economics from Harvard University. His research interests focus on the digital economy, network effects and platform businesses, the economics of media, pricing and revenue optimization, digital transformation, the sharing economy and its potential impact on labor markets, and the economics of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

In his critically acclaimed book “The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism,” Arun Sundararajan examines how the “platform economy” disrupts traditional employment models and maps out the implications of the shift from a job-biased to a platform-biased labor market. He proposes solutions to adjust the market so that wealth and economic opportunity are shared more broadly across the population, and highlights a number of factors, including legal, regulatory, and taxation policies that must be addressed for the sharing economy to truly realize its potential.

At the heart of Arun’s work is a deep conviction that the digital revolution – and the platform revolution in particular – offers a powerful opportunity to create far more efficient markets, generate opportunities for a massive increase in economic and social value, and ultimately create a more just and equitable world. He has been a sought-after resource for leading media outlets, including National Public Radio, the Financial Times, The Economist, the New York Times, Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal, and has been invited to speak on the power of digital economics, the sharing economy and platform business models to audiences around the world.

In addition, Arun is a founding member of the World Economic Forum's Global Futures Council on the Digital Economy, a consultant to the World Bank and has consulted with a range of technology companies, financial firms, and government agencies. He has also held faculty appointments in London, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and has won numerous awards for teaching and research.

To those who seek to understand the current environment, Arun Sundararajan’s work provides an indispensable guide. His book offers a nuanced and thoughtful discussion of the sharing economy and provides a roadmap for executives and policymakers as they navigate the challenges posed by this new, rapidly growing economic sector. It is an essential read to anyone looking to gain meaningful insight into our increasingly digital world.