From the Financial Times, an interesting article on the competition between the “Black Cabs” of London (with their legal privileges, tradition, and undeniable Knowledge of their drivers) and an upstart company, Addison Lee, that is challenging the Black Cabs on several fronts. For instance, the story opens with how Russians are working with Addison Lee to collect GPS data, the better to predict trip length, preferred routes, and fleet allocation.
We all no doubt tend to find confirmation of our prejudices wherever we can. Climate scientists claim corroboration in a winter weather pattern that coincides with global warming theory, but then, seemingly inconsistently, deny that a weather pattern to the contrary is evidence of anything. Heads, we win; tails, inconclusive.
So take it with a grain of salt however big you like that I find in this story evidence that if we regulate an industry, we should think very hard before granting it any outright monopoly. The innovation potential of allowing upstarts is especially prominent in this story. What if the regulators had crushed the upstarts, especially since they tended to be a bit shady?
Dare I think of this story even as being evidence of the virtues of policies that promote small-scale innovation so as to prevent even “free market” success from creating excessive concentrations of corporate power? (Most of our megabusinesses like Wal-Mart, ConAgra, Archer Daniels Midland and such, owe a great deal to cozy relationships with legislators and regulators – hardly examples of pure free market success. But that’s a story for another day.)
Tipsy Teetotaler ن 