Evaluating the Effect of Flexibility on Labor Supply and Outcome: The Case of a Ride-Sharing Economy

Presenter

Yingzhi Liang

Doctoral Candidate at the School of Information

Time and location

North Quad 4330, Thursday (1:00-2:00) pm

Abstract

We examine the effect of flexibility on labor supply and outcome through a large scale randomized experiment on the largest ride-sharing platform in China. Allowing drivers to control the destination of their trips by specifying a destination region increases their working hours and income by more than 4%, while not lowering their productivity. The treatment effect mostly comes from location preference, rather than necessity constraints.