[rs86]

When the author says that kamek does not get more rides... Well that doesn't mean the pie is still the same size, there are more people eating it.

From a theoretical point of view, Uber allows underutilized assets (a car in the garage) to be used, frictional unemployment to be temporarily allocated and reduces barriers to entry (bypassing taxi permits). All of above, from a naive (but not necessarily wrong) perspective, contribute to increase the market surplus. It also has a side effect of shifting wealth from taxi permit holders to newcoming drivers.

Whatever implications that has, it is not just a broker, it is a powerful market mechanism for increasing asset utilization and employment, and as such a mechanism it creates value that can in principle be captured as profit.