Striking with Support: How the Gig Economy Fuels Collective Action in China

Abstract

In authoritarian states, collective actions such as strikes and protests are often difficult due to their high economic and political costs. However, the rise of the gig economy has brought profound transformations to the labor market. The gig economy provides workers with alternative income during strikes, thereby reducing the cost of strike participation. It also enhances workers' outside options when bargaining with firms, increasing their bargaining payoff. Leveraging the staggered entry of food delivery platforms as an exogenous shock, this study not only constructs a theoretical model based on the Rubinstein bargaining framework, but also exploits the differencein-differences method to estimate the empirical effect of the gig economy on China's strikes. The findings indicate that the entry of gig economy platforms significantly increases both the frequency and scale of strikes, which is verified by various strict robust checks. Our study contributes to the literature and policy on social governance and labor relations in the digital economy era.

Keywords: Gig Economy, Social Movement, Collective Action, Labor Relations