Before ride-sharing apps completely disrupted the transportation industry, the artificial scarcity of New York City taxi medallions drove their individual value up to over one million dollars apiece by the year 2014.

A closer look

Before ride-sharing apps completely disrupted the transportation industry, the artificial scarcity of New York City taxi medallions drove their individual value up to over one million dollars apiece by the year 2014. The local government deliberately limited the number of cabs allowed on the streets to protect drivers, which inevitably turned the legal right to operate a taxi into a highly speculative financial asset traded by wealthy investors and corporate fleets. Once Uber and Lyft exploited regulatory loopholes to flood the streets with unregulated cars, the medallion bubble violently burst, financially ruining thousands of independent drivers who had taken out massive mortgages just for the privilege of working. It is a brutal lesson in the dangers of government-enforced monopolies, where a supposedly protective regulation just creates a massive financial trap for the working class!