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XBTUSD's avatar

Your writing is just go good. Thank you

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Alejandro Giacometti's avatar

Very interesting.

I kept thinking about markets where artificial scarcity might actually be desired because of an indirect effect of abundance. An example that comes to mind is private hire cars. Advocating for “abundance agenda” in this market would – at face value – relieve similar pressures: increase the overall supply of private hire cars would make them more accessible, lowering the cost for everyone who needs one.

We have seen this experiment play out with the forced deregulation of the industry by the arrival of Uber/Gig-economy-ride-hailing in cities across the world. VC subsidies aside, the supply of cars has increased dramatically, and so has access and usage of the services. It has also put pressure on space: pulling people from using alternative modes of transport, such as public transport or bicycles or even walking, increases travel times for everyone using roads. We have also seen an increase in air and noise pollution.

Similar to the medical guild, scarcity in private hire car drivers have had the effect of protecting their income. In this case, however, this protection might be desired. Gig-economy wages have sometimes dropped before minimum wage.

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