The Uber Index
Quantitative analysis of platform capitalism as seen from South America
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24215/23143924e030Keywords:
Uber Index, Uber, platform capitalism, digital colonialism, transportationAbstract
The Uber Index is created as a contribution that the field of Science, Technology and Society has developed with regards to platform capitalism. The Index is calculated considering the Service Tariff of Uber around the world and its objective is to observe the rent distribution between the drivers of Uber in each city. The collected data in 39 cities were compared with the tariff service of Taxis companies, taking in account that this data values are the reference of traditional capitalism. This comparison allows observing the pricing strategy that Uber develops and the distribution of the rent of this industry following criteria that differs with the one applied before Uber’s incorporation. The affirmation derives from the data that in 36 of the 39 surveyed cities the platform price is cheaper than taxi’s services. The rate of decrease does not follow the cost decreases in the same extent. For a better interpretation of Uber Index, the data was compared with the Human Development Index. From this analysis is verified that the platform capitalism is grouping cities as a way to establish low cost price strategy in medium-high and highly developed countries, and this strategy is eroding driver´s work conditions where the traditional capitalism had better income conditions.
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