Abstract: I document several facts about contingent work: there is greater dispersion and larger changes in hours worked by contingent workers, and contingent workers' hourly wages are 11.5 percent lower than traditional employees'. I develop a novel model of how individuals and firms choose contingent work or traditional employment. Contingent work offers hours flexibility to individuals but traditional employment earns a higher wage in equilibrium and has the security of unemployment insurance. Firms hire traditional employees before observing their TFP and must pay administrative costs to hire or fire traditional employees. They can hire (less productive) contingent workers flexibly without these constraints. I show that the recent development of apps (such as Uber) that make contingent work easy to find lowered the optimal UI replacement rate from 48 percent to 41 percent, which shows that contingent work provides valuable insurance to all workers in the economy. I also analyze a recent policy change that extended UI to contingent workers. This policy generates welfare losses of 0.08 percent when the UI programs are funded by separate tax rates. Funding both UI programs together with a single tax generates welfare gains of 0.09 percent.
Abstract: Many developed countries provide housing subsidies to low-income renters. Recipients in the U.S. pay a fixed percentage of their income towards housing, and the subsidy covers the remaining cost. In other countries, the subsidy is instead calculated as a percentage of the contract rent. This paper documents evidence of search and matching frictions in the rental housing market and examines how these frictions impact the costs and benefits of income-based and rent-based housing subsidies. I develop a directed search model of the rental housing market and analyze the equilibrium effects of subsidies. Under rent-based subsidies, higher matching frictions increase costs for both the households and the subsidy provider. On the other hand, when subsidies are based on income, households bear most of the additional costs of increased matching frictions. In general, income-based subsidies distort households' search behavior more than when subsidies are rent-based.
(Journal of Political Economy, 2026)
Abstract: This paper examines the nature of entrepreneurship using a novel panel dataset based on US Internal Revenue Service data. We analyze income growth trajectories and the determinants of entrepreneurial choice for business owners. Compared with prior household survey-based studies, we find that self-employed individuals have significantly higher average incomes and steeper income growth than their wage-earning matched peers. Contrary to survey evidence, we find a limited role for nonpecuniary motives, uninsurable risk, and liquidity constraints driving entrepreneurial choice. Prior work experience predicts entrepreneurial entry. Entry and exit rates into self-employment remain stable over time, including during the Great Recession.
Working from Home and Human Capital Accumulation