Like what? Note that, for example, "They take up space on the road and pollute the air" doesn't count because not-for-hire cars do the exact same thing. It has to be an externality that is caused by the fact that the ride is for-hire. There may be such externalities, but I think they are far from obvious.
> the logic that taxi medallions were bad public policy because "monopoly" was flimsy
It's not the medallions per se that are the bad public policy, it's artificially limiting the supply (and then compounding the problem by making them transferrable). That's what the OP (almost surely) meant by "monopoly". Zoning also artificially constrains the supply of land available for certain uses, but that is clearly justifiable because of the (actually obvious) externalities of land use. The externalities of paying someone for a ride are far less clear.
>Like what? Note that, for example, "They take up space on the road and pollute the air" doesn't count because not-for-hire cars do the exact same thing. It has to be an externality that is caused by the fact that the ride is for-hire. There may be such externalities, but I think they are far from obvious.
More specifically, the externality argument about taxis is that they take up space while hunting for fares, while private cars only drive when actually being used to get somewhere.
I agree though, that the point is irrelevant to Uber, since it's strictly a by-request car service that is not hailed from the street, and so doesn't cause the congestion that typical fare hunters would.
Like what? Note that, for example, "They take up space on the road and pollute the air" doesn't count because not-for-hire cars do the exact same thing. It has to be an externality that is caused by the fact that the ride is for-hire. There may be such externalities, but I think they are far from obvious.
> the logic that taxi medallions were bad public policy because "monopoly" was flimsy
It's not the medallions per se that are the bad public policy, it's artificially limiting the supply (and then compounding the problem by making them transferrable). That's what the OP (almost surely) meant by "monopoly". Zoning also artificially constrains the supply of land available for certain uses, but that is clearly justifiable because of the (actually obvious) externalities of land use. The externalities of paying someone for a ride are far less clear.