Abstract
European legislation, shaped by centuries of precedent, offers no coherent framework for regulating Short-Term Rental Accommodation (STRA). National and local authorities have instead adopted fragmented measures, while the rise of corporate actors in the sharing economy has pushed STRA regulation into broader socio-economic policy debates. Cities such as Milan, Amsterdam, Vienna, Madrid, Paris, Barcelona, and Lisbon have incorporated STRA rules into collaborative economy strategies, but ideological and institutional divergences continue to produce uneven regimes and governance tensions.
This paper examines which legal constructs and cognitive biases influence STRA regulation in the EU. Through a comparative analysis of Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, and EU law, combined with an experimental survey of legal experts, we show that regulation remains anchored in traditional property law, with competition law principles gaining weight at the EU level. Cognitive biases—loss aversion, framing effects, endowment—reinforce risk-averse preferences, limiting regulatory innovation and favoring incremental adaptations over novel approaches.
This paper examines which legal constructs and cognitive biases influence STRA regulation in the EU. Through a comparative analysis of Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, and EU law, combined with an experimental survey of legal experts, we show that regulation remains anchored in traditional property law, with competition law principles gaining weight at the EU level. Cognitive biases—loss aversion, framing effects, endowment—reinforce risk-averse preferences, limiting regulatory innovation and favoring incremental adaptations over novel approaches.