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A comment on Uber Makes Economists Sad. Parent comment

Re:Uber Makes Economists Sad by bedhead on Thursday July 10, 2014 @01:20PM (#8015871)
While this is true, what makes taxi medallions so unique is the price discovery. This is one of those rare things where you can see, quite unambiguously, the direct effect of the monopolistic behavior. Other things like zoning tend to be very complex and ambiguous, but taxi medallions are simple. The effect? NYC taxi medallion prices have grown by 29% annually over 30 years. As someone in the investment world, that might be the single best performing asset class I can think of, all for the privilege of taking someone from point A to point B. I noticed airlines don't need medallions - how has that worked out?

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/the-amaz...

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Re:Uber Makes Economists Sad by tptacek on Thursday July 10, 2014 @01:26PM (#8015910)
Did you just suggest that it's easier to start a commercial airline than it is to get a taxi medallion? Have you ever paid attention to the drama about who gets what gates at which airports? Or watched local political battles over the addition of new runways at an airport?
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Re:Uber Makes Economists Sad by bedhead on Thursday July 10, 2014 @01:53PM (#8016066)
No. One's supply limited by the government, the other's is not. At the end of the day they both just transport people from point A to point B. Owners of planes have gone bankrupt 1,000 times since 1980, while owners of taxis have the single best returning asset I can think of. Do you really think government meddling (or medallioning, heh heh) hasn't been about 85% responsible for this otherwise incomprehensible result?
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Re:Uber Makes Economists Sad by tptacek on Thursday July 10, 2014 @02:12PM (#8016186)
The supply of available airport gates is absolutely limited by governments.
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Re:Uber Makes Economists Sad by bedhead on Thursday July 10, 2014 @02:59PM (#8016493)
Well this is going nowhere. I don't know why I try sometimes.
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Re:Uber Makes Economists Sad by dragonwriter on Thursday July 10, 2014 @01:55PM (#8016076)
> Do you really think government meddling (or medallioning, heh heh) hasn't been about 85% responsible for this otherwise incomprehensible result?

Its 100% responsible, from one perspective, because "bankruptcy" is one form of government "meddling" in economic markets.

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Re:Uber Makes Economists Sad by pg314 on Thursday July 10, 2014 @02:15PM (#8016214)
Where do you get the 29% annual growth from? The article you linked to states 1,900% increase over 30 years. That works out to about 10.5% annual growth. That is still a decent increase, but no longer that extra-ordinary.
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Re:Uber Makes Economists Sad by chimeracoder on Thursday July 10, 2014 @02:38PM (#8016370)
> NYC taxi medallion prices have grown by 29% annually over 30 years.

I agree that NYC has not increased the number of medallions in a manner commensurate with its growth since 1970. But this is like referring to the sale prices of commercial condos - you don't need to own a storefront in order to have a retail store (most business owners don't). Likewise, you don't need to own a medallion, just have access to one (ie, rent it, which is what most taxi drivers in NYC do).

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