Is New Platform Work Different from Other Freelancing?

Andrew Garin, Emilie Jackson, Dmitri K. Koustas and Carl McPherson

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2020, vol. 110, 157-61

Abstract: The rise of freelance work in the online platform economy (OPE) has received considerable media and policy attention in recent years, but freelance work is by no means a new phenomenon. In this paper, we draw on IRS tax records to identify instances when workers begin doing online platform work versus other freelance/independent contractor "gig" work for firms. We find gig work occurs around major reductions in outside income and document usage over the lifecycle. Our results provide suggestive evidence on motivations for entering into each type of work.

JEL-codes: D15 J22 J46 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pandp.20201039 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pandp.20201039.appx (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pandp.20201039.ds (application/zip)
https://doi.org/10.3886/E120686V1 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:apandp:v:110:y:2020:p:157-61

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/subscribe.html

DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20201039

Access Statistics for this article

AEA Papers and Proceedings is currently edited by William Johnson and Kelly Markel

More articles in AEA Papers and Proceedings from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().