| In San Francisco's most forceful action yet against the sharing economy, city attorney Dennis Herrera sent a cease-and-desist letter yesterday to MonkeyParking, an iPhone app that allows drivers to auction their parking spot off to the highest bidder circling for a space nearby. San Francisco laws pretty explicitly prohibit private citizens from renting out public space they don't own. Fines can be up to $300 for drivers and $2,500 for companies that facilitate this sort of thing. MonkeyParking takes the sharing economy to another level, says Marcus Wohlsen. Most of the sharing economy has been created with private property, he writes. "MonkeyParking, on the other hand, appears to be premised on the idea that it's okay to cordon off the commons for private gain as long as you get there first." But Daniel Shifrin, the CEO of a similar company, Parkmodo, disagrees. He tells Mike Billings that his service is actually selling departure information, not the parking space itself, which would theoretically make it legal. Legal or not, Guillermo Roditi Dominguez says, the failures of the sharing economy (and specifically MonkeyParking) are, well, shared. It's the fault of the "techies for being socially inept and generally selfish assholes, city gov for not realizing futility of price suppression," he writes on Twitter. While Megan McArdle has little sympathy for "rent-seeking by incumbents" trying to protect their public monopoly, she still admits to some uneasiness with some aspects of the sharing economy, Airbnb in particular. A tenant's decision to list an apartment on Airbnb isn't just disrespectful to neighbors — it's also often a violation of the renter's lease contract, says McArdle. Emily Badger, in a long piece on the taxi industry, points out that taxi medallions, which cost an estimated $350,000 in Chicago, may be creations of "a cartel that operates for its own benefit," but also represent years of work and investment on the part of long-term, full-time taxi drivers. Without a system to limit access, says Badger, we could see a repeat of 1970s-era taxi deregulation in the Sunbelt: "Fares went up, the quality of service went down, congestion increased and driver income declined." Dean Baker thinks that there's something fishy about the whole sharing economy idea in the first place. "Insofar as Airbnb is allowing people to evade taxes and regulations, the company is not a net plus to the economy and society — it is simply facilitating a bunch of rip-offs." Adam Ozimek responds that the motivation behind the sharing economy isn't a desire to scam customers or avoid taxes, it's a frustration with regulatory capture. The sharing economy's success, he says, "provides important demonstrations that satisfying customers with quality goods and services is not dependent on the existing regulations that allegedly protect them." — Jordan Fraade
On to today's links: Trade Ideas
Abolish the Export-Import Bank! Just not now - Paul Krugman New Normal
"60 per cent of paid interns received a job offer, compared with 37 per cent of unpaid interns" - Emma Jacobs Maps
Each state's largest company by revenue - Niraj Chokshi Equals
"I always felt like I can find another job eventually — but I only have one mother" - Dionne Searcy Housing
New home sales are up 19% over last month - Sam Ro Correlation Of The Day
"More construction equals more supply": Here's where housing is actually being built - Christopher Ingraham Generation Debt
The real student debt problem: people who take out loans but never graduate - Brookings | 
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