Learning and Earning in This New Economy

A Study of Rideshare Drivers in Los Angeles

Benjamin Smith

ResearchPublished Jul 22, 2022

This study, and the resulting analysis that comprise this work, was an attempt to understand how gig workers, particularly Uber and Lyft drivers, find and perceive their employment, the money they make from it, and the things they spend it on.

This work is organized into chapters that follow drivers as they find or evaluate jobs, drive to meet their earning goals, pay their rent and bills, manage their relationships with others, and attempt to overcome physical pain, waning motivation, and their own shifting and sometimes nebulous goals.

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Smith, Benjamin, Learning and Earning in This New Economy: A Study of Rideshare Drivers in Los Angeles. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2022. https://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSDA2147-1.html.
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This document was submitted as a dissertation in December 2021 in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the doctoral degree in public policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. The faculty committee that supervised and approved the dissertation consisted of Katharine Sieck (Chair), Gery Ryan, and Katharine Carman.

Partial funding for this dissertation was provided by the Anne and James Rothenberg Scholarship and the Doris Dong Scholarship.

This publication is part of the RAND dissertation series. Dissertations are written by Ph.D. candidates at the RAND School of Public Policy and supervised, reviewed, and approved by a RAND School faculty committee overseeing each dissertation. The RAND School is the world's leading producer of Ph.D.'s in policy analysis.

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