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#326: Why Does A Taxi Medallion Cost $1 Million?

#326: Why Does A Taxi Medallion Cost $1 Million?

Planet Money vor 14 Jahren

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Last month here in New York City, two taxi medallions, the metal plates that make it legal to dive a cab in the city, sold for $1 million each.On today's podcast, we try to answer the question — why? What makes these little pieces of metal worth so much?To get the answer, we go back to the 1930's with Graham Hodges, professor of history at Colgate University. Hodges says it all has to do with a famous and violent strike where cabs were set on fire in Times Square.Plus, we check in with Canadian economist and Bloomberg reporter Ilan Kolet to see how a taxi medallion stacks up against some of today's most popular investments. (Spoiler Alert: The taxi medallion beats out gold, by a lot.)