Thursday 9 April 2009

It's not just idle theory, you know ...

Via the IEA round up; what happens when corporatism breaks down and markets are thrown open to free competition?

Rather unsurprisingly, we get More taxis, lower prices and shorter waiting times. Instead of a handful of taxi-drivers collecting super-profits (on top of their true earnings) because of restrictions on supply, we have three times as many people earning a living - how this all pans out is dictated by consumers, which is one of the Golden Rules of any sort of rational economic policy.

What's not to like?

2 comments:

banned said...

Dunno about Dublin but in England do not equate the number of taxi 'licenses' held by individual drivers with the number of 'taxi plates' relating to specific vehicles, it is the latter that tend to be limited so as to maintain a semi-monopoly for existing plate owners and a market value of several thousand pounds.

Throughout England this has been breaking down for a decade or more and some places, Plymouth for example, are now completly de-regulated. There are now lots of Hackney/Private Hire Taxis and drivers in Plymouth but few know their way around and fewer speak anything recognisable as English.

What's not to like ? They have to work insane hours to earn any sort of living which may not be in the best interests of passengers late in their shifts.

Mark Wadsworth said...

IEBOC, "They have to work insane hours...".

Well, no they don't. They choose to work insane hours.