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Ideology Ãœber Alles? Economics Bloggers on Uber, Lyft, and Other Transportation Network Companies

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  • Jeremy Horpedahl

Abstract

In recent years several new ‘transportation network companies’ (TNCs), such as Uber and Lyft, have emerged, competing with traditional taxicabs. In most U.S. cities, taxicab markets operate implicitly or explicitly as a cartel, and new services pose an economic challenge to them. The motivation and moral of the paper is predicated on a belief that is not defended in the paper, namely the belief that such government-created cartels are undesirable. Here I survey the coverage by economics blogs of the TNCs, with specific emphasis on whether bloggers highlight the consumer benefits from the new competition. One of the main results is that very few vocal left-leaning U.S. academic economics bloggers have had anything at all positive to say about Uber and Lyft: most are silent, some are ambivalent, and a few are outright hostile.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremy Horpedahl, 2015. "Ideology Ãœber Alles? Economics Bloggers on Uber, Lyft, and Other Transportation Network Companies," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 12(3), pages 360–374-3, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:12:y:2015:i:3:p:360-374
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jonathan V. Hall & Alan B. Krueger, 2015. "An Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber's Driver-Partners in the United States," Working Papers 587, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    2. Gordon Tullock, 1975. "The Transitional Gains Trap," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(2), pages 671-678, Autumn.
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    Cited by:

    1. Valeria Andreoni, 2020. "The Trap of Success: A Paradox of Scale for Sharing Economy and Degrowth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Qipeng Sun & Yuqi He & Yongjie Wang & Fei Ma, 2019. "Evolutionary Game between Government and Ride-Hailing Platform: Evidence from China," Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-14, January.
    3. Watanabe, Chihiro & Naveed, Kashif & Neittaanmäki, Pekka, 2016. "Co-evolution of three mega-trends nurtures un-captured GDP – Uber’s ride-sharing revolution," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 164-185.
    4. Murillo, David & Buckland, Heloise & Val, Esther, 2017. "When the sharing economy becomes neoliberalism on steroids: Unravelling the controversies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 66-76.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    transitional gains trap; taxi; cartel;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics

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