Flexible Pay and Labor Supply: Evidence from Uber's Instant Pay

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Chen, Keith; Feinerman, Katherine; Haggag, Kareem
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2024.05301
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: economics; behavior and behavioral decision making; organizational studies; personnel; transportation; taxis-limousines; PRODUCTIVITY; MICROECONOMICS; intertemporal choice; Gig economy; gig-work; present bias

摘要

Modern tech platforms provide workers real-time control over when they work and, increasingly, flexible pay: the option to be paid immediately after work. We investigate the labor supply effects of pay flexibility and the implications of present-biased preferences among gig-economy workers. Using granular data from a nationwide randomized controlled trial at Uber, we estimate the effects of switching from a fixed weekly pay schedule to Instant Pay, a system that allows on-demand, within-day withdrawals. We find that flexible pay substantially increased drivers' work time. Furthermore, consistent with present bias, the response is significantly higher when drivers are further away from the end of their counterfactual weekly pay cycle. We discuss welfare and broader implications in contexts in which workers have the ability to flexibly supply labor.