Gig Work Enables Free Agent Entrepreneurship

In my Openness book, I distinguish between free agent entrepreneurs and innovative entrepreneurs. Free agent entrepreneurs are there own boss, doing what has been done before. Innovative entrepreneurs are their own boss, doing what is new. Of course the distinction is not sharp–a continuum.

Recent research, summarized in the WSJ, suggests that gig work can ease entry into free agent entrepreneurship. Gig work is flexible–the gig worker has time when they need it, to work on their entrepreneurial venture. Gig work also can generate capital and give experience in self-management.

A higher percent of gig workers become entrepreneurs than similar employed workers, and they do so, on average, at a slightly younger age.

Those who want to regulate gig work, and thereby make it less common, should remember how gig work benefits aspiring entrepreneus.

The WSJ article mentioned above is:

Lisa Ward. “Gig Workers Show More Enterprise, Study Finds.” The Wall Street Journal (Thurs., May 8, 2025): A11.

(Note: the online version of the WSJ article has the date May 5, 2025, and has the title “Want to Start a Business? Maybe Begin by Being a Gig Worker.”)

The academic working paper summarized in the WSJ article is:

Denes, Matthew R., Spyridon Lagaras, and Margarita Tsoutsoura. “Entrepreneurship and the Gig Economy: Evidence from U.S. Tax Returns.” In National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper #33347, Jan. 2025.

My book mentioned in my initial comments is:

Diamond, Arthur M., Jr. Openness to Creative Destruction: Sustaining Innovative Dynamism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

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