Proof That Uber Adds Economic Value

Certain credit unions in New York City appear to be going bust as a result of the existence of Uber--this is useful proof that Uber is adding economic value. No, really, this is proof of added economic value. The insight being that economic rents are subtractions from the more general economic value of the citizenry, people manage to place themselves so as to gain value for not actually providing any and this is a subtraction, therefore--obviously, because the people gaining the rents are gaining while no one else is--from the value being enjoyed by everyone else. Eliminating such rents is therefore making all of the rest of us better off and that's just what Uber seems to be doing.

The more specific cause is that certain NYC credit unions specialised in lending into the NYC cab industry. In more detail, against the values of the taxi medallions:

Ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft have been so disruptive to New York City's taxi industry, they are causing lenders to fail.

Three New York-based credit unions that specialized in loaning money against taxi cab medallions, the hard-to-get licenses that allow the city's traditional cab fleet to operate, have been placed into conservatorship as the value of those medallions has plummeted.

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