Taxi, taxi

As I have said many times before, my parrot Maynard is one of the world's best economists.

Unlike most economists, Maynard doesn't say much. Instead he spends his time thinking, as you can see here. But when he does talk, he is always worth listening to.

Regular readers will know that Maynard's favourite comment is "supply and demand", which he sees as the answer to most tricky economic questions.

This week, for example, I have been in Düsseldorf, attending the Languages and Business (Sprachen und Beruf) conference, for which Business Spotlight is the media partner.

On the way to the conference, my Turkish taxi driver told me that his company had recently started to feel the effects of the recession. Sometimes, he now has to wait for an hour before a customer shows up.

I asked why he thought this was the case. His answer sounded just like Maynard — who stayed behind in Munich — because it basically amounted to saying "supply and demand".

Let's take the demand side first. As the recession has started to bite, fewer people are travelling by taxi. That would be bad enough in itself, but there has been a dramatic change on the supply side, too.

With more and more employees on short-time working, some of them have turned to driving taxis part-time, which has pushed up the number of cabs on the streets of Düsseldorf.

In total, there are around 1,300 registered taxis in Düsseldorf, my taxi driver told me. But normally, only around 600 to 700 are on the streets during the week. Now, however, many more are being driven by those seeking to supplement their wages.This has made life harder for the full-time taxi drivers.

I just told Maynard this story on the phone. He was delighted once again to see his words and thoughts in action.