Ride-Sharing and the Geography of Consumption Industries

Abstract Cities are centres of the consumption industries—establishments offering nightlife, food, recreation and retail. However, the city’s associated consumer value is inseparable from its geography because residents must travel to consume. By exploiting both the staggered entry across cities and the precise geographic boundary of Uber services for credible identification, we show that the introduction of ride-share technology into a city caused large and significant growth in the consumption industries. We provide evidence that the results are driven by an increase in consumer mobility, due to Uber causing a reduction in the economic cost of travel.