You should look at the history of why taxi regulation came about and why the "right" number of taxi badges per city was a system that much of the world arrived

You should look at the history of why taxi regulation came about and why the "right" number of taxi badges per city was a system that much of the world arrived at. It also brought minimum service obligations, driver standards and fair pricing. Deregulated taxis had cartels, increased and varying prices depending on destination and poorer customer service. Bad enough that many countries and cities found they had to regulate. Now, whether medallions that are separate from vehicle and driver, and thus have a value in their own right are the best way to regulate is another question entirely. In the US specific case it seems emphatically not. Quite why many US cities had such poor taxi service when other countries have managed much better is beyond me.