Yet, the authors did their best to dispel possible alternative explanations. To prove causality, one would need an improbable experiment where cities are randomly assigned to a treatment group (the entry of ride-hailing) and a control group. Furthermore, they could not (and did not) even claim that the observed correlation was necessarily the result of a causal link between ride-hailing and accidents. could not determine whether this increase in fatalities was simply the result of increased traffic or an inferior quality of ride-hailing drivers.

The study, by John Barrios and co-authors, was only correlational, because, without access to Uber or Lyft’s data, Barrios et al. The Uber/Lyft imbroglio first came to my attention a year ago, when I reviewed the Stigler Center working paper. Thus, important questions aren’t answerable, or worse, the apparent answers might be biased or incomplete. They tend to share that data with researchers who use it only in ways that are blessed by the corporations. This is but one example of a much bigger issue that is not discussed publicly, and which has very real consequences, particularly in our data-driven world. Indeed, the spokeswoman went on to cite its “problematic methodology” and “unjustified conclusions” but offered no analysis to support her assertions. You can see why Uber would want to dismiss this study. Overall, that equates to almost 1000 more traffic-related deaths per year. “Our data science team reviewed this report and found it to be flawed.” So said an Uber spokesperson upon the release of a Stigler Center working paper, which showed that when Uber and Lyft entered a city, traffic fatalities increased by 3 percent. How can we ensure that academic journals do not become an unintended instrument in the PR efforts of powerful firms? Luigi Zingales offers some solutions. Rajan of “Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists” (2003) and author of “A Capitalism for the People: Recapturing the Lost Genius of American Prosperity” (2012). In 2014 he served as President of the American Finance Association. In 2013 he has been named founding director of the Center for Economic Analysis of the PCAOB. In 2003, Zingales received the Bernacer Prize for the best European young financial economist.

He has published extensively in the major economics and financial journals. His research interests span from corporate governance to financial development, from political economy to the economic effects of culture. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Research Fellow of the Center for Economic Policy Research, and a Fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute.

Mc Cormack Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at the University of Chicago - Booth School of Business.

Peter becomes an uber driver