The experience with these older business, like cabs and hotels, seems highlight the role of legal and regulatory frameworks in encouraging or retarding innovati

The experience with these older business, like cabs and hotels, seems highlight the role of legal and regulatory frameworks in encouraging or retarding innovation. Uber and Airbnb seem to be simple and elegant businesses that in part increase supply by freeing up unused resources while competing on price and service with established industries such as taxis and hotels. Now that they have made some headway people are specifically buying apartments and cars to participate. This issue seems like Airbnb's in NYC where room/apartment renters are being required to play by the same rules as the hotel folks with respect to insurance and safety. One thing that recently impressed me and that I would like to see happen more generally is the Attorney General's response to the challenge of banking with respect to marijuana businesses in Colorado and Washington. Banks were turning away pot shops that are legal at the state level but illegal at the Federal level. Within a few weeks of the advent of legal marijuana sales the AG's office has stepped in to say that they want to find a solution to enable marijuana merchants and banks to do business. I am impressed by the responsiveness of "the law" in this case. Such "innovation" around regulation would be welcome in other cases where innovation mediated by technology is happening at a faster rate than regulation is used to adapting.