Question
New York City also limits competitionin this case, the number of taxicabs on the streets. The maximum number of cabs was set at 11,787 in
New York City also limits competitionin this case, the number of taxicabs on the streets. The maximum number of cabs was set at 11,787 in 1937 and stayed at that ceiling until 1996. The city's Taxi and Limousine Commission has since raised the ceiling to 13,605 taxis. That didn't do much to eliminate New York's perennial taxi shortage (for a population of more than 8 million people), much less reduce fares. As a result, license holders reaped monopoly-like profits for decades. A good measure of those monopoly profits was the price of the medallions that served as taxi licensesa price that reached $1.3 million in 2014. When Uber, Lyft, and other ride-sharing services surmounted that entry barrier, the monopoly power of the medallions was shattered. In 2020, medallions were selling for less than $200,000 and ride-sharing services had 35 percent of the market. Other states and cities are still protecting their taxi oligopolies by prohibiting Uber, Lyft, and other ride-share companies from operating.
If the price of a medallion is a proxy for the profits of the NYC taxi industry, by what percentage did the industry's profits decline when Uber entered the market?
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