
Algorithmic Labor and Information Asymmetries: A Case Study of Uber’s Drivers - Dowwie
http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/4892/1739
======
yummyfajitas
I'm glad people are looking into this, but this "study" is actually pretty
poor. Mostly it's just recounting grumpy opinions of drivers.

Fundamentally, the potential issues relating to information asymmetries come
from the fact that such asymmetries might result in a market failing to clear.
Absolutely nowhere does it attempt to discuss this issue. It spends a fair bit
of time discussing Uber's attempts to transmit information to drivers, thereby
reducing said asymmetries (e.g., "demand is high in your area").

Absolutely nowhere does it attempt to quantify the harms caused by information
asymmetries.

Nowhere does it discuss the fact that Uber's primary role is that of a
Walrasian auctioneer
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walrasian_auction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walrasian_auction))
in a market with sparse goods and where actually processing the relevant
information is probably too complex for any agent to do. There is actually a
fair bit of theoretical economic literature on this - the net result is
generally that the best strategy for an auctioneer who taxes transaction value
is to approach market clearing (i.e. what would happen with perfectly rational
agents and perfect information).

Overall, this article is just a thin academic veneer on top of what is
basically just typical journalistic griping about Uber. What's the point?

------
bbctol
So glad this is being addressed, I'd been hoping for real research on these
issues for a while. To wildly extrapolate with no evidence, which is what I do
best:

Is anyone else worried that data analysis/"AI" is going to replace data itself
as a source of power? The idea that information asymmetries fuel businesses
has been around for a long time--a main way for a company to make a long-term
profit trading goods is possessing information over the customers. As
information becomes more available to the consumer, it looks like the ability
to process that data becomes the asymmetry used for profit; Uber's surge-
pricing is effective not just because they know more about how busy a city is
than an individual consumer, but because they can analyze that data more
effectively. I foresee (again, totally speculating and probably wrong)
consumers having access to more and more data, but being outcompeted
cognitively by large corporations, who are better able to understand and
exploit their behavior.

------
wjnc
I've not much read in the field of communication and had some negative
preconceptions. But this was a very interesting read! But how should one
progress ones thinking from science like this?

All it tells me is that working for Uber isn't all fun and games. Heck,
content like that is found on every corporate intranet.

As an economist I think: "Well but people are using it to make above minimum
wage money, so it seems to be working". (Explanation re replies: not to be
dismal, but the working of the market via Uber is not really in dispute macro-
wise AFAIK. So how should you weigh #N complaints by drivers in a qualitative
piece of research?)

From a legal perspective: "It's pretty clear this is illegal in the
Netherlands, since it definitely is a employment relationship."

Entrepreneurial thinking: "With a little more clarity in the platform and a
little more honesty / openness towards drivers, Uber could be drivers walhalla
but at a cost to the consumer".

~~~
pjc50
> _As an economist I think: "Well but people are using it to make above
> minimum wage money, so it seems to be working"._

Not just the dismal science, but the incurious science!

There's a lot that economists could work with here, if they were so inclined.
Standard market doctrine requires _perfect_ information. What's the impact of
infomation asymmetry? What does 'perfect' information really mean in this
context, or any context? It it really a market between riders and drivers, or
a two-sided market?

The entire article is about market power and price setting. How about looking
at that in other industries?

~~~
yummyfajitas
_Standard market doctrine requires perfect information. What 's the impact of
infomation asymmetry?_

No, it doesn't.

This is like saying "physics doesn't work in 3D" or "physics doesn't work on
non-spherical objects" because Physics 101 textbooks typically use
1-dimensional problems involving spheres to illustrate the concepts. Perfect
information is just an assumption made to derive mathematically the simplest
possible textbook model that illustrates the concept.

