Saturday, November 29, 2014

Uber is hitting rent seekers where it hurts: in their medallions...

Taxi Medallion prices are an indicator of the level of state criminality in the car for hire market.  The higher the premium to participate in a rigged market, the worse the exploitation. Great news:  Medallions are plummetting.

We were talking about this at lunch the other day, and now Josh Barro steps forward with the numbers:

The average price of an individual New York City taxi medallion fell to $872,000 in October, down 17 percent from a peak reached in the spring of 2013, according to an analysis of sales data. Previous figures published by the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission — showing flat prices — appear to have been incorrect, and the commission removed them from its website after an inquiry from The New York Times.

In other big cities, medallion prices are also falling, often in conjunction with a sharp decline in sales volume. In Chicago, prices are down 17 percent. In Boston, they’re down at least 20 percent, though it’s hard to establish an exact market price because there have been only five trades since July. In Philadelphia, the taxi authority recently scrapped a planned medallion auction.

There is more here. I learn also that Nevada just banned Uber.

- See more at: http://marginalrevolution.com/#sthash.W7IcZTpp.dpuf

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