difficult for the benefit providers to monitor their level of work
and effort, and thus to determine when they deserve to receive
benefits.
As the labour market continues to evolve toward independent
workers in the gig economy, how should policy adapt? The
objective of policy should not be to prevent individuals from
participating in the gig economy. If people wish to be self-
employed, and are prepared to face the uncertainties involved
in such pursuits, it is difficult to justify a policy designed to
prevent their choices and push them instead toward traditional
work.
However, both for the willing “free agents” and for those who
feel forced by their circumstances to participate in the gig
economy, policymakers should consider a significant redesign
of our social-insurance systems. Given the shifts occurring
within the labour market, reforms could make it easier for
independent workers to establish a retirement pension,
purchase low-cost health and dental benefits, and secure some
protection against income loss due to unemployment. If such
reforms could be designed well, they would likely lead to
further increases in the number of people choosing to work in
the gig economy. (We will have much more to say about social-
insurance policies of this kind in Chapter 18 .)