Cheap zero-interest capital let Uber buy dominance through subsidized rides

Evidence

In a time of ZIRP (zero-interest-rate policy), Uber leveraged cheap capital to subsidize rides, undercutting traditional taxis and capturing a massive user base. The company hemorrhaged money on every ride but promised investors a bright future—a monopoly that would allow it to raise prices. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 506

Categorization

• XREF: This is the classic ZIRP-era playbook: burn capital to capture a market, promise monopoly pricing later. Echoes the law-merchant/diamond chapters’ logic of institutions substituting for missing mechanisms, and connects to any reading on the venture-capital growth-at-all-costs model.
• DEFINE: ZIRP defined in passing — useful as the macro mechanism underneath the era’s ‘move fast and break things’ culture.