The renewed desire to share shows up in a variety of statistics: A car-sharing service has had a 70-percent membership increase since the recession set in. Governments are putting bikes on the street for public use. How-to-swap Web sites are proliferating.

“I think what happens in a recession or any sort of economic contraction is that you have not only a loss of financial resources, but also you have a loss of emotional resources,” said Shawn Achor, a Harvard University researcher and a consultant on positive psychology.

“You don't have as much of the money or security or confidence or pride that goes with financial success,” he said. “Our brains try to seek out those resources that are lost. The financial resources are beyond our control, but the emotional resources are not. And we seek out each other. We rely on each other.”

The economy reflects the way Americans have cut back, especially on discretionary items: Department store sales dropped 1.3 percent in June. Auto sales dropped 27.7 percent last month. People are not paying others to do what they can do themselves — Home Depot reports increased attendance at in-store do-it-yourself clinics. And although paint sales are down in general, according to Sherwin-Williams, individual consumers are still buying.

When Tom Burdett needed to cut some tile at his home outside Annapolis, Md., he refused to buy expensive tools, instead asking neighbors and friends for help. Sure enough, someone had just what he needed. And when that friend needed help installing a satellite dish, Burdett volunteered.

“I'm not going to go out and buy a US$500 tile saw just to do one project,” said Burdett, a television producer. “Just ask for help, and help people out. I think the economy has kind of woken people back up to the old way of doing things instead of the crazy '90s of 'Oh just go out and buy it.' “

Sharing is not new to the American culture, but many Americans abandoned it when the nation shifted from an agricultural society to an industrial one, said Rosemary Hornak, a psychology professor at Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C. They moved farther from their families and worked too much to connect with new neighbors.

Now that people are experiencing financial distress, they don't want to be alone.

“You can't change the economy. You can't change the recession. Maybe you can get a better job, but that won't be instantaneous. What do you do?” she said. “Sharing is one of the things that first of all makes you feel better about yourself. ... We're moving into 'How can we establish these kinds of personal connections, this helping others, sharing, being a bit more neighborly?' “

Neighborhood conversations tell more of the story as the movement grows organically in communities nationwide. Liz McLellan, a Web designer in Oregon, started a free yard-sharing community at Hyperlocavore (hyperlocavore.ning.com) in January. Friends, relatives or neighbors create a group, pool their resources and start a garden, then distribute the produce equally. The recession gardens, as she calls them, can save families with two children up to US$2,500 a year.

“We have people who are foodies and have become accustomed to outstanding taste and freshness,” she said. And “we have people who simply are trying to make ends meet.”

In February, Robert Morse of New York started DaveZillion.com — named for a friend known for helping his neighbors before he died at 43 — to connect groups of people who want to share tools or help one another on home projects. “We hear stories about guys who have no money to go golfing anymore and are going to each other's houses and helping each other paint the house or fix the patio,” he said.

Women have flocked to the Web site BagBorroworSteal.com to borrow or rent luxury bags and other accessories. Users of a book-swapping Web site, Bookmooch, have increased 30 percent to about 124,000 since the beginning of the year. The membership of the trading site SwapTree has grown tenfold in the past year. “We're kind of coming out of an opulent time,” said Mark Hexamer, co-founder of SwapTree. “People have seen the bad side of mass consumerism. Now everyone is kind of looking for ways to cut down on the family budget.”

Since the recession started, the car-sharing company Zipcar has had a 70 percent increase in membership to almost 300,000.

Sixty percent of the new members said they had sold their cars or abandoned plans to buy them in favor of Zipcar, which charges a small annual fee.

“The downturn in the economy has people thinking of buying less and sharing more,” said Scott Griffith, chief executive of Zipcar.

Local governments and faith organizations are joining in. For a US$40 annual fee, Washington, D.C., offers access to 120 bikes at self-service racks around the city.