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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday June 10 2020, @08:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the let-me-count-the-ways dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The arrival of the novel coronavirus and subsequent shutdowns of economies across the globe have caused hardships not seen in generations. But for business professors, it's also a once-in-a-generation research opportunity.

USC Marshall Assistant Professor of Marketing and Kenneth King Stonier Assistant Professor of Business Administration Davide Proserpio was one of the first academics to study the sharing economy as he completed his Ph.D. Today he is considered a leading expert in the so-called "gig" economy. We asked him five questions about how the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant shutdown are affecting the sector.


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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday June 10 2020, @11:22PM (6 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 10 2020, @11:22PM (#1006060) Journal

    I didn't used to have anyone in my circle of acquaintances that did gig-work, now I know ~10 people. They're not doing it because it makes a lot of money, nor because 'they want to be their own boss', both arguments sounding so similar to MLM scams; they do it out of necessity, because their regular job pays fuck-all and it's the only way to scrape together enough money to keep the family fed. Unfortunately, it suffers severely from the law of diminishing returns: the more time you dedicate to it, the deeper you go into the hole... even though you're constantly encouraged to dedicate more and more time to your 'gig'.

    So they would be better off with just the "fuck-all" job and not being able to scrape enough together? I bet you that the policies and regulations intended to make their lives easier, such as public pensions, regs to curb "exploitive jobs", minimum wage laws, and the byzantine maze of rules on all aspects of employment, have done more to make their lives hard than employers being employers.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday June 11 2020, @09:16AM (5 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 11 2020, @09:16AM (#1006217) Journal

    So they would be better off with just the "fuck-all" job and not being able to scrape enough together?

    Because there always has to be a false dilemma around, one only needs to look a bit for it (grin)

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 11 2020, @12:41PM (4 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 11 2020, @12:41PM (#1006252) Journal
      We could always get rid of the "fuck all" job too, leaving them virtuously unemployed.

      When someone talks about how terrible something is, the obvious "dilemma" to consider the absence of the terrible thing.
      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday June 11 2020, @12:49PM (3 children)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 11 2020, @12:49PM (#1006258) Journal

        When someone talks about how terrible something is, the obvious "dilemma" to consider the absence of the terrible thing.

        Maybe the presence of other things would be more helpful?
        Or the absence of some other things that drove to a fuck all job?
        Because the possibilities as so many more than just two.

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 11 2020, @01:31PM (2 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 11 2020, @01:31PM (#1006276) Journal

          Maybe the presence of other things would be more helpful?

          Like what? Policies that make the problem worse?

          • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday June 11 2020, @01:52PM (1 child)

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 11 2020, @01:52PM (#1006281) Journal

            That too.
            Or fucking tuition fees going through the roof (while most of the damn'd Europeans have even tertiary education socialized).
            Or being held hostage by John Deere with the crop you can't harvest because you can't repair your tractor.
            Or those HB whatever visas.

            Things like that, yes.

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 12 2020, @01:43PM

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 12 2020, @01:43PM (#1006854) Journal

              Or fucking tuition fees going through the roof (while most of the damn'd Europeans have even tertiary education socialized).

              Seems irrelevant to me. Most people don't actually pay those fees (because they don't go to those schools) and they still have the same problems.

              Or being held hostage by John Deere with the crop you can't harvest because you can't repair your tractor.

              I sense we're reaching.

              Or those HB whatever visas.

              Ditto.