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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 173 2025

Entrepreneurship and the gig economy: Evidence from U.S. tax returns

Matthew Denes1; Spyridon Lagaras2; Margarita Tsoutsoura3,4,5

1 Carnegie Mellon University · 2 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · 3 Washington University in St. Louis · 4 Centre for Economic Policy Research · 5 European Corporate Governance Institute

open access

Abstract

Platform intermediation of goods and services has considerably transformed the U.S. economy. We use administrative data on U.S. tax returns to study the role of the gig economy on entrepreneurship. We find that gig workers are more likely to become entrepreneurs, particularly those who are lower income, younger, and benefit from flexibility. We track all newly created firms and show that gig workers start firms in similar industries as their gig experience, which are less likely to survive and demonstrate higher performance. Overall, our findings suggest on-the-job learning promotes entrepreneurial entry and shifts the types of firms started by entrepreneurs.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2025.104156
Volume
173
Pages
104156
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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