Economics Seminar

Speaker: Olivier Marie (Erasmus University) - Deliver Us from Crime? Online Platforms, Gig Jobs, and Offending

Abstract - We investigate the impact of the rise of on-demand food delivery platforms on local employment and crime rates, leveraging the temporal and geographic disparities in their introduction in France. Our staggered difference-in-differences approach reveals that the arrival of a delivery platform in an employment area leads to a rise in the presence of registered riders, which concurrently leads to a large reduction in drug-related crimes. These results indicate that the gig economy fosters employment opportunities for low-skilled workers, youth, and migrants, facilitating their engagement in lawful economic activities.