meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Freakonomics Radio

317. What Can Uber Teach Us About the Gender Pay Gap?

Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.632K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2018

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The gig economy offers the ultimate flexibility to set your own hours. That's why economists thought it would help eliminate the gender pay gap. A new study, using data from over a million Uber drivers, finds the story isn't so simple.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner, and yes, we are busting into your podcast stream a couple

0:07.6

of days early because we've got a special episode.

0:10.6

It was occasioned by the fact that we got our hands on a brand new research paper that

0:14.9

we thought was so interesting and important that you would want to be among the first

0:18.2

people to hear about it.

0:19.8

It's called the Gender Earnings Gap in the Gig Economy, evidence from over a million

0:25.0

ride share drivers.

0:26.8

Those ride share drivers, as you may have guessed, are Uber drivers.

0:30.6

The paper was written by five economists, two who are employed by Uber, two Stanford professors,

0:37.1

and one researcher who's been on Freakonomics Radio several times, John Lists, who's chairman

0:41.4

of the University of Chicago Economics Department, and he moonlights as head of the Uber nomics

0:46.8

team at Uber.

0:47.8

Okay, how you doing?

0:49.9

List is one of three economists we'll be hearing from today.

0:53.4

There's Rebecca Diamond from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Jonathan

0:58.8

Hall, who leads the public policy and economics team at Uber.

1:02.9

Yes, I have been working at Uber for just about three years, 360 days, a couple hours.

1:12.3

So talk to me about how you came to be involved in this crew and your role.

1:17.6

Sure.

1:18.6

You know, I work on various issues around the company that have an economics flavor, and

1:25.3

one thing that has arisen recently is the Gender Pay Gap.

1:30.3

It's generally agreed that it's a terribly important topic in economics, but it's not

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.