The Yellow cabbie doesn't take home as much because the have medallion fees, cab rental fees, insurance fees and union fees they have to pay. An Uber driver or lyft doesn't have any of these to worry about.
I believe the thing that got the sharing economy going though was time shares. Being able to rent houses 2 weeks at a time for summer or winter vacations really got this idea going in my opinion.
For sure. Same can be said for short-term rentals. Hosts have less of the liability, more upside. It comes down to the same thing - stifle innovation or maintain the status quo.