What Do Big Data Tell Us about Why People Take Gig Economy Jobs?

Dmitri K. Koustas

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2019, vol. 109, 367-71

Abstract: The gig economy is widely regarded to be a source of secondary or temporary income, but little is known about economic activity outside of the gig economy. Using data from a large, online personal finance application, I document the evolution of non-gig income and household balance sheets surrounding the participation decision for gig economy jobs. This simple analysis reveals striking pretrends in income and assets. In addition to providing insight into the reasons why households enter the gig economy, these findings have potentially important implications for the external validity of previous studies focusing on gig economy activity only.

JEL-codes: C55 D14 J22 J23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
Note: DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191041
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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