independent contractor

The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism

by Arun Sundararajan  · 12 May 2016  · 375pp  · 88,306 words

service at their coffee shops and use these locations as drop-off points for rented items. Today, your Kozmo delivery person would likely be an independent contractor or part-time employee with his or her own GPS-enabled smartphone. In 1999, however, Kozmo had to hire employees and equip them with its

…

—imagine Uber without GPS-enabled smartphones; simply not possible at scale—and what workforce models might be now feasible when a smartphone-equipped crowd of independent contractors can seamlessly enter and exit digital labor markets. The Digitization of the Physical Alongside the consumerization of digital, we are now also witnessing a parallel

…

vehicles and pay for their own gas and repairs while building their transportation microbusinesses. Indeed, there is a long history of taxi drivers operating as independent contractors in the United States. Uber maintains that it is a technology company that simply provides a platform for drivers to connect with customers in the

…

June 2015 by SherpaShare, a provider of financial services to sharing economy providers, two out of three Uber drivers indicated that they viewed themselves as independent contractors to the platform rather than as employees.2 As this book goes to press, the case, involving 160,000 Uber drivers, is still underway. In

…

Alfred employ their providers full-time, and their CEOs, Dan Teran and Marcela Sapone, have frequently argued the advantages of full-time employment over an independent-contractor relationship.5 And policy makers have started to take note. In a June 2015 speech, Virginia senator Mark Warner called for federal policy makers to

…

challenges that will unfold over the coming decades. We need labor policy that anticipates this ongoing transition, moves past the false dichotomy of “employee” and “independent contractor” to redefine how we categorize productive work, decouples the social safety net from full-time employment, and better supports our emerging networked society of microentrepreneurs

…

and dozens of links to other pertinent sites), at http://uberlawsuit.com/. 2. Jianming Zhou and Ryder Pearce, “Do On-Demand Workers View Themselves as Independent Contractors or Employees?” SherpaShare, June 15, 2015. https://sherpashare.com/static/resources/SherpaShare-IndependentContractorEmployeeSurveyResults.pdf. 3. See the full docket report for the case, O’Connor

…

, “Uber and Lyft Fail to Convince Judges,” Business Insider, March 2015. http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-and-lyft-fail-to-convince-judges-their-employees-are-independent-contractors-2015-3#ixzz3UIFTYbVy. 5. I have heard Teran discuss this at two separate events in the second half of 2015: the TAP Conference in New

…

book the central labor policy question for the sharing economy seems to concern the employment status of the new, flexible workforce. Are they employees, or independent contractors, or something else? Since my training is in economics and business rather than in the law, I won’t waste your time with a layperson

…

with deliberation, with pilots and safe harbors, so that we gather more data before making any significant extensions to the current framework. First, the employee/independent contractor question is not new. According to Justice Wiley Blount Rutledge, quoted by Justin Fox in a Bloomberg View article: Few problems in the law have

…

thus a historically vexing issue, not a fresh challenge posed by the sharing economy’s newly minted corporate giants. Second, the determination of “employee” versus “independent contractor” is not algorithmic. True, the issues discussed are always about how independent the contractor is, and how much control the potential employer exerts on the

…

“now enjoy a wide variety of federal, state and local protections, from minimum-wage and overtime laws to unemployment insurance, that aren’t available to independent contractors.”3 This is an important distinction for a number of reasons, most saliently because the specter of future litigation may actually be preventing workers from

…

the IRS’s criteria for determining whether a worker is an employee is whether that worker gets benefits, a platform that considers benefits for its independent-contractor workers as, for example, a retention strategy, or a way of attracting new workers, will shy away from this to avoid potential class-action lawsuits

…

.” As I mentioned in chapter 7, it seems as if a majority of Uber drivers don’t want to give up the flexibility of being independent contractors. Before you raise your eyebrows at my basing a conclusion on a quick survey run by a Silicon Valley insider, let me point you to

…

type of employment, 2005 As indicated by these findings, as early as 2005, it was clear that a vast majority of self-employed workers and independent contractors don’t want an alternative employment structure. (These are the most recent numbers available through this agency.) Of course, perhaps many of them wouldn’t

…

-time employees can pool their individual bargaining power and take collective action, protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the NLRA does not protect independent contractors, and current antitrust law may penalize them for doing so, a point Elizabeth Kennedy highlights using the example of independent physicians in her 2005 paper

…

of workers in North America, and began by reflecting on the inherent contradiction in the term: Because the choice of either legal designation—“employee” or “independent contractor”—in effect prejudges the issue of their right to bargain collectively, a new term is needed: “dependent contractor.” They are “dependent” economically, although legally “contractors

…

intermediary pay half of the worker’s contributions toward the FICA payroll taxes (as much as 13.8% of earnings, and currently borne entirely by independent contractors).14 Although the introduction of a third category of worker will help many sharing economy providers and will also allow today’s platforms greater flexibility

…

create a “safe harbor” for specific sharing economy platforms that would allow them to give benefits, training, insurance, and other forms of protection to their independent contractor providers without triggering a categorization of these providers as employees. We are still very early in the labor transition induced by the sharing economy. Labor

…

, or the Airbnb/Etsy software that every host and customer uses be considered a “tool”?) Fourth, can disciplinary actions be taken against the worker? While independent contractors may have their contracts terminated, they can’t be disciplined as employees might be. (Does blocking someone temporarily from accessing a platform, or lowering his

…

long-run business sense. There is also reason to believe that provider protection will be an effective retention strategy for platforms. If collective organizing for independent contractors becomes legal, platforms must consider provider unionization. These platforms must also consider the prospect of large-scale provider migration that might accompany the creation of

…

both futures. But the choices we make over the coming decade will determine which one dominates. Notes 1. Justin Fox, “Uber and the Not-Quite-Independent Contractor,” Bloomberg View, June 23. 2015. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-23/uber-drivers-are-neither-employees-nor-contractors. 2. The SS-8 form

…

/pub/irs-pdf/fss8.pdf; detailed supplementary guidelines are available at http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Independent-Contractor-Self-Employed-or-Employee. 3. Fox, “Uber and the Not-Quite-Independent Contractor.” 4. Often called the “congressional watchdog,” GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. The report is available

…

.net/2014/08/05/it-takes-a-new-kind-of-worker-to-make-instant-happen/. 6. Elizabeth Kennedy, “Freedom from Independence: Collective Bargaining Rights for Independent Contractors,” Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law 26, 1 (March 2005): 155–157. http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1348&context=bjell

The World's First Railway System: Enterprise, Competition, and Regulation on the Railway Network in Victorian Britain

by Mark Casson  · 14 Jul 2009  · 556pp  · 46,885 words

203 two new lines was associated with a separate capital account. Although the LNWR was willing to Wnance these lines, the Llanelli company had employed independent contractors who, partly as a consequence of the Overend Gurney banking crisis of 1866, got into Wnancial diYculties. The date of the LNWR’s arrival in

…

determined timetable, as on the railway system of today. Indeed, in the Victorian period a number of companies leased the operation of their lines to independent contractors, such as Thomas Brassey, the railway builder, on a short-term basis. Furthermore, many companies that owned short branch lines leased their operation to the

Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy

by Alexandrea J. Ravenelle  · 12 Mar 2019  · 349pp  · 98,309 words

. Identifiers: LCCN 2018033918 (print) | LCCN 2018038179 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520971899 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520300552 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780520300569 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Precarious employment. | Independent contractors. | Employee rights. | Flexible work arrangements—United States. | Labor—United States. | Labor market—United States. Classification: LCC HD5857 (ebook) | LCC HD5857 .R38 2019 (print) | DDC 331

…

avoid social responsibilities, including workers’ compensation, overtime, and disability accommodations.33 A 2015 Occupational Safety and Health Administration report suggests that temporary workers and independent contractors also receive less training and are more likely to be injured on the job as a result. Although researchers have addressed how classification as an

…

brought by workers of Uber, Lyft, and Handy argue that the restrictions on, and requirements for, workers mean they should be considered employees—not independent contractors. Other suits, such as one against CrowdFlower.com (renamed Figure Eight in 2018), a start-up that breaks digital jobs into tiny tasks performed

…

in the midst of the service pivot and multiple other changes. In September 2015, the service announced that on-demand workers would switch from being independent contractors (1099 workers) to being employees. Workers, who had previously been paid sixty dollars for a shift of up to four hours, had their pay

…

even though the right to organize and form a union was established in the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, most sharing economy workers are considered independent contractors and outside the coverage of the act. As a result, as of this writing, only drivers in Seattle have been granted the right to

…

having changed the world of work for the better. Yet, for all of these improvements, just eighty years later, sharing economy workers—classified as independent contractors—find themselves without any of these protections. And yet, this is only the start of the workplace troubles that gig economy workers often experience. Like

…

s pain is similar to what Ehrenreich wrote about, but whereas Ehrenreich’s colleagues were hourly employees, covered by workers’ compensation policies, Emma is an independent contractor. She is not eligible for workers’ compensation, paid sick leave, or health insurance. If she is injured on the job, she has no recourse.

…

disability accommodations, family leave protections, protection from discrimination, or the right to form unions. The majority of sharing economy services consider their workers to be independent contractors, or 1099 workers, named for the end-of-year tax document they receive that details their income. In addition to freeing companies from the obligation

…

insurance funds or to make an employer’s contribution to Social Security and Medicare (7.65 percent of the employee’s salary), classifying workers as independent contractors allows companies to create a two-tier system in terms of benefits without facing complaints of discrimination. Full-time workers can get 401k contributions,

…

. It’s no wonder that in 2011, the American Bar Association noted that a federal study estimated 3.4 million employees were classified as independent contractors when they should be reported as employees; a 2009 study by the Treasury Department’s inspector general estimated that misclassification costs the United States fifty

…

do with your spine. So I’m hoping this combination of physical therapy and acupressure will allow me to not have to do that.” As independent contractors, Kitchensurfing workers are not covered by workers’ compensation. They also don’t qualify for employer-sponsored disability compensation. “We’re just the hired help

…

any such injuries to themselves or their property. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Not all sharing economy companies embrace the independent contractor model. Some start-ups have made an active decision to pay workers as employees, with all of the protections that entails—and without destroying

…

employees strengthened the company and its reputation by improving customer satisfaction, leading to reduced customer-acquisition costs. MyClean’s CEO, Michael Scharf, explained, “We see [independent contractors] as a legal risk. We also want, for lack of a better word, control—the ability to manage, dispatch, train, have processes in place

…

or engage in money laundering. But the structuring of gig-based employment leaves workers in a precarious situation. By deeming gig economy workers to be independent contractors, companies deny them many of the protections often associated with employees. Since their work is temporary and their numbers are many, companies don’t seem

…

more for labor. They’ve also received pushback from potential investors who have declined to support their company because they weren’t classifying workers as independent contractors. “There was this whole trend at the time because of Uber. ‘Uber for anything . . .’ It was like heroin for VC [venture capitalists]. . . . [T]

…

plan for anything or have any benefits.” Sapone admits that their company could have gone either way in terms of hiring workers as employees or independent contractors. But Sapone and her cofounder disliked the high level of customer and worker churn found in the 1099 model, and they were concerned about

…

fair, the impetus for treating workers as employees is not generally philanthropic. For instance, the office service Managed by Q views its rejection of the independent contractor model as a business strategy. Shortly before creating the service, the founder, Dan Teran, read Zeynep Ton’s book, The Good Jobs Strategy. The

…

their workers as employees or offering their workers stock options and full company involvement? For one, the cost savings from classifying a worker as an independent contractor can be considerable: after factoring in unemployment insurance, workers compensation premiums, Social Security and Medicare contributions, health insurance, and any additional benefits, the savings

…

are able to offer much lower prices than companies that commit to paying an actual wage. The cost savings of deeming workers to be independent contractors creates a perverse incentive for companies to save money on the backs of their workers. It also makes it harder for companies that are

…

worker that’s been misclassified . . . are worse than your chances of finding a leprechaun riding a unicorn.”84 As noted previously, classifying workers as independent contractors reduces payroll taxes, including Social Security contributions, workers compensation, and health insurance premiums. Misclassifying workers can also lead to issues when workers file for unemployment

…

supervises others under a contract pursuant to which the worker agrees to provide material and labor and is only responsible for the result, this indicates independent contractor status. 6. Continuing relationship: A continuing relationship between the worker and the person for whom the services are performed indicates employee status. 7. Set

…

hour, week, or month: Payment by the hour, week, or month generally points to employment status; payment by the job or a commission indicates independent contractor status. 13. Payment of business and/or traveling expenses. If the person for whom the services are performed pays expenses, this indicates employee status. An

…

: The provision of significant tools and materials to the worker indicates employee status. 15. Significant investment: Investment in facilities used by the worker indicates independent contractor status. 16. Realization of profit or loss: A worker who can realize a profit or suffer a loss as a result of the services (

…

available to the general public: If a worker makes his or her services available to the public on a regular and consistent basis, that indicates independent contractor status. 19. Right to discharge: The right to discharge a worker is a factor indicating that the worker is an employee. 20. Right to

…

, to be covered by civil rights laws, and to have taxes deducted from their paychecks. Workers would also have the opportunity to pool with other independent contractors to receive certain benefits, such as disability insurance, retirement accounts, and liability insurance, much like workers who join the Freelancer’s Union. However, under

…

IRS’s 1984 Strategic Initiative, an examination of 3,331 employers for the 1984 tax year, found that 15 percent of employers misclassified workers as independent contractors. The IRS also found that “when employers classified workers as employees, more than 99 percent of wage and salary income was reported. However, when

…

workers were classified as independent contractors, 77 percent of gross income was reported when a Form 1099 was filed, and only 29 percent of gross income was reported when no Form

…

of numerous workplace protections. Implementing my solutions would reduce this risk. ENTREPRENEURS BY CHOICE Under the Time Rule and pajama policy, the category of independent contractor would be reserved for people who were largely self-directed. Workers could opt out of employee status and choose to be entrepreneurs by incorporating, which

…

Passengers to Stop Drinking in Car.” NBC Washington, February 22. Committee on Ways and Means. 2007a. “Hearing on the Effects of Misclassifying Workers as Independent Contractors.” Hearing before the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support and the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures of the Committee on Ways and Means, U

…

. “The Casualization of Intimacy: Consensual Non-Monogamy and the New Sexual Ethos.” PhD. diss. Available from ProQuest, AAI3550956. Griffith, Erin. 2015. “Why Kitchensurfing Made Its Independent Contractors into Employees.” Fortune, September 1. Griswold, Alison. 2014. “In Search of Uber’s Unicorn.” Slate, October 27. ———. 2016a. “The Dirty Secret of Airbnb Is

…

Background Relating to Worker Classification for Federal Tax Purposes (JCX-26-07). Washington, DC: Internal Revenue Service, May 7. Jost, Micah Prieb Stoltzfus. 2011. “Independent Contractors, Employees and Entrepreneurialism under the National Labor Relations Act: A Worker-by-Worker Approach.” Washington and Lee Law Review 68(311). Kahn, Bonnie Menes. 1987

…

, 208 collective bargaining, 64–65, 70, 71 collective consciousness, 32 Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation, 68–69 Commission on Industrial Relations, 93 commission structure model: independent contractor status and, 199–201box 1; Juno/Gett, 190–91; Lyft, 75; TaskRabbit, 6, 80, 185; Uber, 75–76, 184; worker control and, 182 Committee

…

171; worker control and, 64, 171 entrepreneurship: overview, 6, 23, 31; Airbnb and, 44; capital requirements for, 40; democratization of, 5, 6, 34, 186; independent contractor status and, 206–7; inequality and, 38, 183, 186; Kitchensurfing and, 58; for the masses, 5, 6; platforms and, 181–82; reduction of barriers to

…

CrowdFlower financing programs: Santander, 3, 73; Uber, 3, 73 flexibility: overview, 6, 15, 16; addressing need for, 177; in-demand job skills and, 38; independent contractor status and, 111; of Kitchensurfing, 167–68; limits to, 86–87; stigmatization of usage of, 184; successful workers, 10–11, 19, 159 FLSA (Fair Labor

…

guilds, 71 Hacker, Jacob, 37, 181 hackerspaces, 27 Hall, Elaine, 121 Hall, Jonathan, 38 Handy: as exchange of services, 27; homeless workers and, 42; independent contractor status and, 36; lawsuits by workers against, 38; term reinvention and, 29 happy worker model, 178, 190, 207 Harris, Seth, 196, 201, 202 Hart, Keith

…

152, 162, 187, 188, 190; Airbnb and, 72; costs of, 186; Driver Injury Protection insurance, 102; Hello Alfred and, 188; high-deductible plans, 37; independent contractor status and, 94, 190–91, 196; Kitchensurfing and, 59; lack of, 152, 156, 207; Managed by Q, 190; MyClean and, 190; Postmates and, 110–11

…

and, 164–66; Gabriele, 82, 132, 170–71; guest screening, 47, 168–72; host discrimination, 35–36; host-guest interactions, 33–34, 128–31; as independent contractors, 36; Instant Book service, 170; James, 167, 168, 170; Jessica, 165; Joshua, 165, 170, 192–93; landlord-tenant disputes, 230n17; landlord-tenant issues, 222n49

…

; McClean, 189; opportunities for, 23, 157; risks of, 37; TaskRabbit and, 56; of workplace risk, 191. See also piecemeal system overtime: avoidance of, 36; independent contractor status and, 94; paid overtime, 189 overwork, 6, 15–16 The Overworked American (Schor), 16 owner-occupied move-ins, 41 paid time off, 180, 188

…

–84; Gemeinschaft/Gesellschaft, 31–36; income rates, 184–85; increasing casualization of labor and the related risk shift, 36–39; increasing social inequalities, 39–42; independent contractor classification, 196–202; pajama policy, 204–5, 206; participant recruitment and methodology, 42–43; promises of, 5, 6, 25, 207–9; protecting workers in,

…

50 UberPeople, 72–73, 225n34 uberPOOL, 27, 105–6 UberRUSH, 127–28 UberTaxi service, 77 Uber workers: Baran, 2–3, 6; Bryan, 78–79; as independent contractors, 36 uberX, 27, 75, 75tab. 2, 77, 78, 107 underemployment, 42, 62, 175 underground economy, 186 unemployment: discrimination against long-term unemployed, 62; long

…

-term unemployed, 11; sharing economy and, 61 unemployment benefits: access to, 187; independent contractor status and, 94; unionization and, 177 unemployment insurance, 120, 191 unemployment rate, 10, 175, 176 unexotic underclass, 231n4 unicorns (startups), 2 unionization: overview, 6,

…

-home arrangements, 66 worker categories, 59, 109–11; Strivers, 10–15; Strugglers, 10–12, 14–18; Success Stories, 10–13, 18–21. See also independent contractors; striving workers; struggling workers; successful workers worker classification: overview, 11–12; employer-employee relationship factors, 199–201box 1; FLSA and, 196; independent worker category, 201

…

, 202; risk and, 36; tax revenues and, 205–6; time rule solution, 202–3. See also independent contractor status worker safety: overview, 6, 22; advanced planning and, 97–100; dangers of driving for hire, 101–4; health issues of driving, 104–6; in

…

109–11; urination issues, 106–9. See also workerplace injuries workers’ compensation: overview, 22; access to, 187, 189; avoidance of, 36; costs of, 191; independent contractor status and, 91–92, 94–95, 96–97, 196; short history of, 92–94 work hours: on-call time, 81–84; erratic nature of, 74

…

16; promise of, 6; social class and, 38; striving workers and, 14–15 workplace injuries: overview, 4–5, 6, 22; financial aspects of, 74; independent contractor status and, 95–97; lack of protective regulations on, 90–92. See also workplace protections workplace issues: overview, 2, 22, 90–92; advanced planning and

Sleeping Giant: How the New Working Class Will Transform America

by Tamara Draut  · 4 Apr 2016  · 255pp  · 75,172 words

’t core to its company brand. It can take many forms: franchising, multiple layers of contracting, staffing or temp agencies, or misclassification of workers as independent contractors. No matter the form of outsourcing, the result is often downward pressure on wages and workplace safety standards the further down a worker falls in

…

the recognizable brand embroidered on their uniform but from the franchise operating the store. And then there’s the new practice of classifying workers as “independent contractors” to avoid the pesky costs of having actual employees. All these practices result in a web of employment relationships in which accountability is hidden, making

…

low wages in unsafe conditions. Ironically, what they experienced is indeed a quintessential feature of American culture: the exploitation of low-wage workers. The Dependent “Independent Contractor” One of the most common tactics used to distance companies’ responsibility for their workforce is to misclassify many of their workers as

…

“independent contractors,” which exempts the company from having to provide benefits, pay payroll taxes, and comply with federal and state labor laws, such as the minimum wage

…

Medicare, not to mention state and federal income taxes. Employers often underreport how much they pay independent contractors or pay them off the books to avoid paying taxes. Meanwhile, the workers also lose, because as independent contractors they don’t qualify for most safety-net programs when they are out of work, and they

…

the cracks of most labor and employment laws.23 So who exactly should be classified as an independent contractor? The key term here is the word “independent.” According to the IRS, what makes someone an independent contractor is that the firm paying for his or her work has direct control only over the result

…

of the service or work provided, not over what work will be done and how it will be done.24 True independent contractors, such as realtors and freelance graphic designers, are self-employed, responsible for finding clients on their own. The misclassification of workers as

…

independent contractors has jumped the fence from professional occupations to include some of the lowest-paid jobs in America, including home care, janitorial work, and trucking. Today,

…

for instance, almost all heavy-truck drivers are “independent contractors.” Rhonda, a thirty-six-year-old white woman, has driven trucks for over nine years. She’s currently a truck driver in the Port of

…

to her by C&K Trucking, and under her contract she can only haul C&K Trucking’s freight. Because she’s classified as an independent contractor, she must pay for all expenses associated with keeping the truck running—fuel, insurance, tires—and the costs of repairs to parts she doesn’t

…

relationship to C&K. In fact, like most port truckers in the United States, hers is a classic example of companies classifying their workers as independent contractors to avoid the costs and responsibilities of having employees. This misclassification is rampant in port trucking and has fueled ongoing strikes at major ports in

…

company defined as posting schedules at least one week in advance.31 Whether it’s wage theft, skimping on safety equipment, or misclassifying workers as independent contractors, the thread connecting all of these practices is unbridled corporate power and a punitive workplace culture that places the blame for bad working conditions squarely

…

face immense cost pressures with increasing intensity at each link in the contracting chain. These cost pressures result in many employers misclassifying the workers as independent contractors, allowing the employer to avoid paying unemployment insurance and federal payroll taxes. And it leads to skimping on safety protections and adequate training. Enter the

…

time for a Better Deal. The Blueprint for a Better Deal A Better Deal for Workers • Modernize our labor protections by tightening the definition of “independent contractor,” creating new rules for stable scheduling practices, and ensuring that the growing “on-demand” workforce is protected by labor laws and has rights to basic

…

, February 21, 2012, at http://www.​nytimes.​com/​2012/​02/​22/​us/​hersheys-​packer-​fined-​by-​labor-​department-​for-​safety-​violations.​html. 23. Sarah Leberstein, “Independent Contractor Misclassification Imposes Huge Costs on Workers and Federal and State Treasuries,” National Employment Law Project, August 2012, at http://www.​nelp.​org/​page/​-/​Justice

…

/​Independent​Contractor​Costs.​pdf?​nocdn=​1. 24. U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, “Independent Contractor Defined,” August 5, 2015, at http://www.​irs.​gov/​Businesses/​Small-​Businesses-​&-​Self-​Employed/​Independent-​Contractor-​Defined. 25. Weil, The Fissured Workplace, p. 124. 26. Ibid., p. 131

The Sovereign Individual: How to Survive and Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State

by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg  · 3 Feb 1997  · 582pp  · 160,693 words

do, or even why firms exist at all. Why do entrepreneurs hire employees, rather than placing every task that needs doing out to bid among independent contractors in the auction market? Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase helped launch a new direction in economics by asking some of these important questions. The

…

across stages by each worker."28 There is no physical reason why the thousands of employees could not have been replaced by a gaggle of independent contractors, each renting space on the factory floor, bidding for parts, and offering to assemble the axle or weld the fenders onto the chassis. Yet you

…

would look in vain for an example of an industrial-era automobile factory organized and run by independent contractors. Coordination Problems Operating an industrial facility without the benefit of coordination through a single firm would have dissipated most of the economies to be realized

…

of the models would have been a nightmare. You need only 188 imagine the difficulty facing the designer in attempting to convince the hundreds of independent contractors on changes required to introduce a new model. In practice, almost unanimous consent would have been needed. Anyone holding out or objecting to any change

…

cost of introducing it, thus further jeopardizing the gains from operating on a large scale. Unnecessary Negotiation An assembly line rented (or owned separately) by independent contractors would have been subject to numerous vulnerabilities avoided by operating within a single firm. The death, illness, or financial failure of individual contractors would have

…

press used for stamping out the taillight sockets. All of this would have been complicated. Incentive Traps Another crucial difficulty with an assembly line of independent contractors under the conditions of the Industrial Age was that capital requirements for the individual contractors would have differed dramatically. A plastic mold needed to produce

…

information technology that make it ever more attractive to contract out functions formerly done by employees. Capital costs are lower. Product cycles are shorter. The independent contractors themselves, including the one-person firms, have vastly more sophisticated information networks at their disposal. Soon they will be able to rely upon an array

…

laws and regulations substantially raised the costs of forming and dissolving firms on a project basis. They also have tended to force entrepreneurs to subsume independent contractors as employees. Legal interventions further temporarily inflated the supply of "good jobs" by making it costly and difficult to dismiss an employee, however little he

…

organized around projects, in much the way that movie companies already operate. Most of the formerly "internal" functions of the firm will be outsourced to independent contractors. The industrial-era employees who held "good jobs" but who contributed little and relied upon fellow workers to "cover" for them will soon find themselves

…

are now contingent. In Bridges's words, "Employment is becoming temporary and situational again, and categories are losing their boundaries."35 In the new cybereconomy, "independent contractors" will telecommute across continents to nest together on the Information Age equivalent of the assembly line. Hollywood Takes Over The model business organization of the

…

mainly artifacts of information and transaction costs, which information technologies tend to reduce drastically. Therefore, the Information Age will tend to be the age of independent contractors without "jobs" with long-lasting "firms." As technology lowers transaction costs, the very process that will enable individuals to escape from domination by politicians will

The Corruption of Capitalism: Why Rentiers Thrive and Work Does Not Pay

by Guy Standing  · 13 Jul 2016  · 443pp  · 98,113 words

the growing numbers in so-called self-employment, who now account for about 15 per cent of the ‘employed’. Most of the jobs outsourced to ‘independent’ contractors have been low-paid, so the sample used for calculating average wages has shifted towards higher-income employees. And bonuses paid to higher-income workers

…

provided by the platform – development of the technology, administering booking and payment systems and so on. The platforms insist that taskers are not employees but independent contractors, so are not covered by labour laws, entitling them to certain benefits and safeguards, including, in the USA and elsewhere, the right to unionise. Uber

…

goes to great lengths to justify the independent contractor label, describing drivers as part-time ‘driver-partners’ who choose to provide rides using the Uber platform. TaskRabbit’s support centre poses the rhetorical question

…

‘Do Taskers work for TaskRabbit?’ and gives its answer: ‘No, they do not. Taskers are local entrepreneurs and independent contractors who work for themselves. TaskRabbit simply provides the platform for Clients and Taskers to meet. We vet and background-check all Taskers before allowing them

…

business model. This is why Uber agreed a proposed $100 million out-of-court settlement in April 2016 in return for maintaining drivers’ status as independent contractors. At the time of writing the settlement had still to be approved by a judge. When US home cleaning platform Homejoy folded in 2015, the

…

extra income, the change has made this harder, because other commitments restrict availability for tasks. Taskers have to be on call, making their description as ‘independent contractors’ even more far-fetched. As one Facebook comment put it, ‘Anyone left working for TR [TaskRabbit] is an indentured servant … You are not growing your

…

character of work and labour. It is reducing the number of defined jobs by shifting to tasks done by people who are neither employees nor independent contractors. At the same time, it is increasing the number of activities counted as jobs in our misleading labour statistics. By being commodified – made into market

…

firms’ (defined as having between zero and nine employees) came into existence. Many, if not most, will have been formed by self-employed freelancers and ‘independent contractors’. Average income from self-employment fell by 22 per cent between 2009 and 2014, at a time when official statistics indicated that nearly three-quarters

…

used official revenue data to dismiss the impact as trivial, he undermines his claim by noting that ‘failure to report income is very common among independent contractors’. In one respect, the on-demand economy reverses a capitalist mantra. Instead of being owned by capitalists, the main means of production are ‘owned’ by

…

are rentiers, earning a lot for doing little, if we accept their claim that they are just providing technology to put clients in touch with ‘independent contractors’ of services. Thus, Uber and rival Lyft insist they are technology, not transport companies. As platform-based tasking expands, it will be appreciated just how

…

more people below tax thresholds, for example by expanding part-time labour. In many countries, payroll and income taxes are lower for those classified as independent contractors. So, the shift may feed into the austerity agenda by increasing budget deficits and fuelling demands for further cuts in public spending on the spurious

…

from mass-transit transport – buses, trams, tubes and trains – that has lower pollution costs. Then there are safety concerns. If Uber and others allow their ‘independent contractors’ to drive as much as they wish, some may drive more hours than are safe. Limiting hours may not solve that problem if drivers survive

…

to jury trial in June 2016. However, in April 2016, Uber reached an out-of-court settlement with the drivers that maintains their status of independent contractors in return for certain concessions. A ruling by the UK’s Employment Tribunal was also expected in 2016. 18 S. Harris and A. Krueger, ‘A

…

, 2015. 41 In the April 2016 proposed settlement, Uber agreed to ‘facilitate and recognize’ drivers’ ‘associations’. The city of Seattle has passed a law granting independent contractors the right to unionise. Chapter 7 THE CORRUPTION OF DEMOCRACY There is a murkier side to the growth of rentier capitalism: the institutionalised manipulation of

The Fissured Workplace

by David Weil  · 17 Feb 2014  · 518pp  · 147,036 words

room set-up, overall pace, and quality standards established by Marriott, whose name the property bears. A cable installer in Dayton, Ohio, works as an independent contractor (in essence a self-employed business provider), paid on a job-by-job basis by Cascom Inc., a cable installation company. Cascom’s primary client

…

mandatory social payments (such as unemployment and workers’ compensation insurance or payroll taxes) or to shed liability for workplace injuries by deliberately misclassifying workers as independent contractors.2 Misclassification of this sort is a major problem, particularly in industries like construction and janitorial services. The fissured workplace does not arise only from

…

the act. The definition of “employee” has become a hotly contested issue in recent years, particularly in regard to the reclassification of employees as independent contractors. Since independent contractors are viewed under law as business entities in their own right, they are exempted from minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards

…

of historically responsible employers. Finally, we look at how multitiered subcontracting in the cable industry changed what were once employees of cable media companies into independent contractors. Past as Prologue: Fissured Coal Mines and the “New” Subcontracting Subcontracting was long used in underground coal mining for reasons similar to those found

…

repeatedly, fissuring often leads to more fissuring. In this case, Cascom did not pay its cable installers as employees, but instead set them up as independent contractors. In principle, that meant that each cable installer was a self-standing business that subcontracted the work from Cascom. In reality, however, Cascom determined

…

which homes each so-called independent contractor would visit and how much the contractor could charge (a rate Cascom both set and collected). Cascom precluded installers from taking on new business independently

…

, fined them for work judged (after the fact) to be substandard, and monitored their activities closely.65 The one way Cascom treated installers as independent contractors was by compensating them on the basis of jobs completed rather than hours worked. That meant an installer received the same amount of money whether

…

As the principal contractor, Cascom created its own rigid standards, monitoring, and enforcement systems to see that its subcontractors—in this case individuals employed as independent contractors—met them. By moving installation work outside to the model of contracting created by Cascom, Time Warner ultimately could pay a far lower cost per

…

employed inside the media giant. The case is not unique: many forms of fissured subcontracting end with outer tiers of individuals hired as so-called independent contractors rather than as employees. Independent contracting can be a legitimate form of business organization, but it connotes specific things: that contractors control their own

…

of time for drop-offs and can be docked if packages arrive outside of it or if the company receives complaints from customers. As an independent contractor, the driver is required to purchase a truck (as specified by FedEx) that bears the company logo. In addition to financing the vehicle, the

…

the difference between the fees paid per delivery and the costs incurred for servicing the route, rather than on a salary or hourly rate. As independent contractors, drivers are not covered by overtime or other labor standards or protections against discrimination, health and safety laws, or provisions that would allow them

…

further acknowledges that SLTD’s said audit is in no way intended to waive or release PWV’s I-9 compliance obligations … or alter the independent contractor relationship between the parties.”12 Subcontracting and the Workforce: A Refrain Subcontractors like PWV receive payment on the basis of truckloads completed (or on

…

who sold newspapers in the street on commission) were in fact employees of the Hearst publishing empire despite Hearst’s contention that they were formally independent contractors who purchased papers from Hearst but sold them on their own as “entrepreneurs.” The NLRB decision and the Supreme Court’s affirmation of it

…

led enraged conservatives in Congress to amend the NLRA in 1947 to specifically exempt independent contractors.6 This moved the NLRB and the courts to apply the tests for employment created by common law in deciding on issues of coverage under

…

way work is actually done) versus only the outcomes has important implications as to whether the agent undertaking that activity is an employee or an independent contractor, and therefore whether the principal is liable or not for the actions of the agent. But the important point is that the test itself

…

revenues from Awuah’s clients, deducted royalty fees and interest and principal payments for the loan, and sent the remainder to him. Awuah, as an independent contractor, faced all costs for conducting his business (wages for workers, associated tax, workers’ compensation and other social payments, costs of cleaning materials, insurance, transportation,

…

he and 115 other franchisees were, in reality, employees of Coverall. The suit, brought by his attorney, Shannon Liss-Riordan, questioned the validity of the independent contractor / franchise status of the Coverall agreements given the top-down nature of the relationship among the franchisor, customers, and individual franchisees. If in fact Coverall

…

only the franchisee but also Domino’s Pizza LLC as the franchisor in the suit. Domino, citing case law that typically holds franchisees to be independent contractors, thereby removing franchisors from liability, sought a summary judgment by a trial court to remove it from the suit. Although the trial court granted

…

the burden of proof to an employer to show that an individual is not an employee. Employers must show that an individual designated as an independent contractor is free from control or direction in the performance of work; that the service provided by the individual is outside the normal activities of

…

franchising cases were brought under this Massachusetts statute. Twenty-two states have passed legislation that addresses the classification of workers as independent contractors.54 While a senator, Barack Obama introduced the Independent Contractor Proper Classification Act of 2007. The legislation addresses misclassification by closing tax incentives that make it more advantageous for businesses to

…

Stopping Lowest-Road Employers Egregious Fissuring Some forms of fissuring are clearly directed toward end-running basic employment responsibilities, such as deliberately classifying workers as independent contractors who by all recognizable standards are employees. As discussed in Chapter 8, many states became aware of this problem in the past decade, and

…

others, any current or future business that is covered anywhere under OSHA’s explosives or process safety management standards if that business employs workers or independent contractors.” Additionally, he agreed to “have no involvement in any enterprise that has employees if it is located within 1,000 yards of another business

…

Taxi Workers Alliance in New York City also suggests the possibilities of new organizations and collective actors in the workplace. Because of their designation as independent contractors, taxi drivers are not covered by the National Labor Relations Act. Nonetheless, since 1993 the Taxi Workers Alliance, led by Bhairavi Desai, has brought

…

of a self-standing market which splits further apart. Contractors use subcontractors, who in turn farm out work to individuals who operate as so-called independent contractors. Or, transferred to a franchising model, lead franchisors create regional franchisors, who then sell to local franchisors. Fissuring also spreads. Successful fissuring in one

…

landscaping, computer programming services); • Day laborers: Individuals who get work by waiting at a place where employers pick up people to work for the day; • Independent contractors: Individuals who obtain customers on their own to provide a product or service (and may or may not have other employees working for them). These

…

by companies to work for a specified period of time, such as seasonal workers in the retail sector; • Self-employed workers: Workers not classified as independent contractors (who therefore do not pay payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, and other standard employment costs).8 Using data from the Contingent Worker Survey, the U.

…

categories of contingent work that are closely related to fissured employment grew substantially between 1995 and 2005. In particular, the number of workers classified as independent contractors grew from 8.3 million to 10.3 million, and also increased as a percentage of total employment, from 6.7% to 7.4%.

…

of contingent work in Table 11.1 are less closely aligned with the concept of fissured workplaces. This includes self-employed workers (not categorized as independent contractors) and standard part-time workers. Including those categories when estimating the extent of fissured employment would tend to overstate its extent. For example, many

…

—to attorneys who typically must travel to the home of the borrower. A common practice now is to subcontract this work to lawyers working as independent contractors, compensating them on a per closing basis, rather than assigning lawyers from the firm itself. The assigned attorney is expressly forbidden to offer any

…

, 9, and 10. 12. Direct and control test has become central in the area of misclassification laws regarding whether workers have been incorrectly classified as independent contractors rather than employees. I discuss this in Part III. 13. 29 U.S.C. §§ 201–219 (1994). Not surprisingly, the application of this broad

…

are complementary, but one aspect is not observable, the employer faces a difficult problem in creating a compensation model. Shifting this work to an independent contractor is desirable in such cases in that the payment becomes one more directly related to output of the provider than to the input of the

…

of franchising, it is not the only problematic workplace practice in the janitorial sector. Another common practice is subcontracting janitorial services and classifying workers as independent contractors, similar to the cable installers discussed in Chapter 5. This practice—common in office cleaning in many metropolitan services—can lead to multiple tiers of

…

place pressure on end users (Lerner, Hurst, and Adler 2008). The Wage and Hour Division has also investigated the use of misclassification of employees as independent contractors in janitorial services, including recent investigations in Chicago. See “US Department of Labor Sues Two Chicago-Area Cleaning Companies, Owners to Recover Unpaid Wages

…

information systems, business strategies, and public policies that enable modern lean retailing, see Abernathy and Volpe (2012). 3. The company advertises “independent contractor opportunities” on its website: “If you’re an independent contractor, select from the following links for information about opportunities with the FedEx family of companies.” The choices include FedEx Custom Critical

…

Owner/Operator; FedEx Ground Independent Contractor; and FedEx Home Delivery Independent Contractor (http://www.fedex.com/us/indp/independentcontractors.html, accessed February 8, 2013). 4. This model of retailing has also become common in

…

gain or loss.” For a discussion of this new stream of reasoning and its potential impact on further expanding the legal underpinning for use of independent contractors, see Jost (2011). 8. See Stone (2006) Rogers (2010), and Jost (2011) for related discussions. 9. See Rebitzer (1995) and Wells, Kochan, and Smith

…

liability on the incentives of parties in principal/agent relationships. 14. Arlen and MacLeod note, “Thus vicarious liability creates perverse incentives for principals to prefer independent contractors over employees when the risks fall primarily on third parties in the very situation in which control may be most socially beneficial, when agents are

…

Valley Coal Co. v. Yensavage, 218 F.546 (2d Cir. 1914)). The case is discussed in the context of the more recent decisions regarding the independent contractor status of FedEx drivers in Jost (2011). 51. Definition of “employee” in West Virginia Code, section 21-5-1(b)(1996); definition of “employer”

…

www.dol.gov/whd/workers/misclassification/ for a discussion of joint initiatives between state agencies and the Wage and Hour Division regarding misclassification. 55. The Independent Contractor Proper Classification Act addresses the section 530 safe harbor provision of federal tax law, which is a loophole that allows employers to classify workers as

…

and unemployment insurance, it imposes those costs on the individual worker (and also creates tax compliance problems in many instances). See “S. 2044—110th Congress: Independent Contractor Proper Classification Act of 2007,” GovTrack.us (database of federal legislation), 2007 (see http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/s2044/text, accessed September 2

…

Plans and Collective Bargaining.” Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, no. 717. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Jost, Micah Prieb Stoltzfus. 2011. “Independent Contractors, Employees, and Entrepreneurialism under the National Labor Relations Act: A Worker-by-Worker Approach.” Washington and Lee Law Review 68, no. 1: 313–373. Kahn

…

Small Business in Focus: Finance; A Compendium of Research. Washington, DC: Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, 9–38. Perritt, Henry. 1988. “Should Some Independent Contractors Be Redefined as Employees under Labor Law?” Villanova Law Review 33, no. 6: 989–1041. Perrow, Charles. 1984. Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies

…

–282; and politics, 208–209 Independent contracting, 10, 314n37, 314n39, 341n7; in the logistics industry, 161–162; as form of employment, 270 Independent Contractor Proper Classification Act of 2007, 205 Independent contractors, 21, 24, 186, 205, 212, 236; misclassification of workers as, 10; and cable installation, 119–121; FedEx drivers as, 161; and

…

; business model for franchising, 134–136; financial viability of franchising, 136–139; franchising and labor standards, 139–142; evolution of employment structures in, 220; and independent contractors, 327n31; and branding, 327n31; Jan-Pro Franchising International, 133–134; franchising agreement, 134–136 Job polarization, 284–285 Jobs, Steve, 51, 175 Journatic, 277–

J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2014

by J. K. Lasser  · 5 Oct 2013  · 1,845pp  · 567,850 words

underpayment rate. - - - - - - - - - - Plans subject to and excluded from Section 409A Unless an exception applies, Code Section 409A applies to all plans, including arrangements between an independent contractor and a service recipient, and a partner and partnership, under which the service provider has a legally binding right during a year to compensation that

…

the likelihood that the forfeiture will be enforced. - - - - - - - - - - Non-employees The tax rules for restricted property are not limited to employees. They also apply to independent contractors who are compensated for services with restricted stock or other property. Sale of property that is not substantially vested If you sell restricted property in

…

employees must be at least half the seating capacity. The exclusion applies only to regular employees. For partners, more than 2% S corporation shareholders, and independent contractors who are provided transit passes, the IRS allows up to $21 per month as a tax-free de minimis benefit. If the monthly value exceeds

…

month only if the price paid plus the $245 exclusion is less than the value of the parking. Commuter parking benefits for self-employed partners, independent contractors, or more-than-2% S corporation shareholders do not qualify for the $245 exclusion but may qualify as a tax-free de minimis benefit (3

…

disallowed on the grounds that his employment in California was not temporary; it lasted more than one year. The Tax Court disagrees. Just because an independent contractor returns to the same general location in more than one year does not mean that he is employed there on an indefinite basis. Mitchell’s

…

entertainment; the employee is, when claiming the meals on Form 2106. A similar rule applies to meal allowances or reimbursements that you give to an independent contractor and that you report as compensation on Form 1099-MISC where the contractor does not adequately account for the expenses. The restrictive tests (20.17

…

and entertainment that are treated as taxable compensation to the employee and as wages for purposes of withholding of income tax. 2. You reimburse an independent contractor for meal and entertainment expenses he or she incurs on your behalf and the contractor does not adequately account for the expenses. You should report

…

. The backup withholding rate is 28%. Backup withholding will apply to fees of $600 or more (Form 1099-MISC) for work you do as an independent contractor, payments from brokers (Form 1099-B), royalty payments (Form 1099-MISC), and certain gambling winnings (26.8) if you do not give the payer your

…

Form 1040 if you are a sole proprietor of a business or a professional in your own practice. If you do freelance work as an independent contractor, you are self-employed and use Schedule C. If you are an employee with a sideline business, report the self-employment income and expenses from

…

are required to report payments and receipts to the IRS. If you fail to comply with this reporting, you can be penalized. Payments to independent contractors If you pay independent contractors, freelancers or subcontractors a total of $600 or more within the year, you must report all payments to the IRS and the contractors

…

actually carrying on the business is subject to self-employment tax on the earnings. - - - - - - - - - - Caution Freelancer Fees Fees you earn for freelance work as an independent contractor are business earnings reportable on Schedule C, and if you have a net profit, they are subject to self-employment tax on Schedule SE. - - - - - - - - - - Qualified

…

Group 1. Technical specialists who contract directly with clients may be classified as independent contractors by showing that they have been consistently treated as independent contractors by the client, and that other workers in similar positions have also been treated as independent contractors. Thus, they may treat their income as self-employment income. Firms that are

…

a decedent. Income earned by a person before death but taxable to an estate or heir who receives it; see 1.14 and 11.16. Independent contractor. One who controls his or her own work and reports as a self-employed person; see Chapters 40 and 45. Individual retirement account (IRA). A

…

, a net loss as an ordinary loss; see 44.8. Self-employed person. An individual who operates a business or profession as a proprietor or independent contractor and reports self-employment income on Schedule C; see Chapters 40 and 45. Self-employment tax. Tax paid by self-employed persons to finance Social

…

and fees deduction and Income in respect of a decedent (IRD) Income interests in trust, gifts of Income Record Keeper Income tests (EIC) Incompetent persons Independent contractors Index options Indian tribal government Individual retirement accounts (IRAs). See also specific types, e.g.: Roth IRAs combat pay and fees of records of contributions

…

Payment period Payments. See also specific types over $10,000 of clients’ expenses donations as from health and accident plans home mortgage interest and for independent contractors for insurance premiums for itemized expenses for prior installment sales for reservists self-employed persons’ reporting of taxable part of to third parties PBGC. See

J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2016: For Preparing Your 2015 Tax Return

by J. K. Lasser Institute  · 19 Oct 2015

underpayment rate. Plans subject to and excluded from Section 409A. Unless an exception applies, Code Section 409A applies to all plans, including arrangements between an independent contractor and a service recipient, and a partner and partnership, under which the service provider has a legally binding right during a year to compensation that

…

risk of forfeiture” under the restricted property rules. Non-employees. The tax rules for restricted property are not limited to employees. They also apply to independent contractors who are compensated for services with restricted stock or other property. Sale of property that is not substantially vested. If you sell restricted property in

…

employees must be at least half the seating capacity. The exclusion applies only to regular employees. For partners, more than 2% S corporation shareholders, and independent contractors who are provided transit passes, the IRS allows up to $21 per month as a tax-free de minimis benefit. If the monthly value exceeds

…

month only if the price paid plus the $250 exclusion is less than the value of the parking. Commuter parking benefits for self-employed partners, independent contractors, or more-than-2% S corporation shareholders do not qualify for the $250 exclusion but may qualify as a tax-free de minimis benefit (3

…

disallowed on the grounds that his employment in California was not temporary; it lasted more than one year. The Tax Court disagrees. Just because an independent contractor returns to the same general location in more than one year does not mean that he is employed there on an indefinite basis. Mitchell’s

…

entertainment; the employee is, when claiming the meals on Form 2106. A similar rule applies to meal allowances or reimbursements that you give to an independent contractor and that you report as compensation on Form 1099-MISC where the contractor does not adequately account for the expenses. The restrictive tests (20.17

…

meals and entertainment that are treated as taxable compensation to the employee and as wages for purposes of withholding of income tax. You reimburse an independent contractor for meal and entertainment expenses he or she incurs on your behalf and the contractor does not adequately account for the expenses. You should report

…

. The backup withholding rate is 28%. Backup withholding will apply to fees of $600 or more (Form 1099-MISC) for work you do as an independent contractor, payments from brokers (Form 1099-B), royalty payments (Form 1099-MISC), and certain gambling winnings (26.8) if you do not give the payer your

…

Form 1040 if you are a sole proprietor of a business or a professional in your own practice. If you do freelance work as an independent contractor, you are self-employed and use Schedule C. If you are an employee with a sideline business, report the self-employment income and expenses from

…

are required to report payments and receipts to the IRS. If you fail to comply with this reporting, you can be penalized. Payments to independent contractors. If you pay independent contractors, freelancers or subcontractors a total of $600 or more within the year, you must report all payments to the IRS and the contractors

…

deductible contributions to your own SEP or self-employed qualified retirement plan (41.4). Caution Freelancer Fees Fees you earn for freelance work as an independent contractor are business earnings reportable on Schedule C, and if you have a net profit, they are subject to self-employment tax on Schedule SE. Married

…

Group 1. Technical specialists who contract directly with clients may be classified as independent contractors by showing that they have been consistently treated as independent contractors by the client, and that other workers in similar positions have also been treated as independent contractors. Thus, they may treat their income as self-employment income. Firms that are

…

a decedent. Income earned by a person before death but taxable to an estate or heir who receives it; see 1.14 and 11.16. Independent contractor. One who controls his or her own work and reports as a self-employed person; see Chapters 40 and 45. Individual retirement account (IRA). A

…

treated as ordinary rather than capital losses; see 30.13. Self-employed person. An individual who operates a business or profession as a proprietor or independent contractor and reports self-employment income on Schedule C; see Chapters 40 and 45. Self-employment tax. Tax paid by self-employed persons to finance Social

…

and fees deduction and Income in respect of a decedent (IRD) Income interests in trust, gifts of Income Record Keeper Income tests (EIC) Incompetent persons Independent contractors Indian tribal government Individual responsibility penalty Individual retirement accounts (IRAs), See also specific types, e.g.: Roth IRAs combat pay and fees of records of

…

Payment period Payments. See also specific types over $10,000 of clients’ expenses donations as from health and accident plans home mortgage interest and for independent contractors for insurance premiums for itemized expenses for prior installment sales for reservists self-employed persons’ reporting of taxable part of to third parties PBGC. See

Stacy Mitchell

by Big-Box Swindle The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses (2006)

now doing some twenty-six thousand home-installations a day of windows, roofing, flooring, and other products, so their customers do not have to hire independent contractors. Maximizing spending at their own stores is part of the reason chains favor stand-alone boxes removed from established retail districts. But even under optimal

…

Higher Sales: Wal-Mart Wunderkind Walmex Shows Them How It’s Done in a Down Economy,” Latin Trade, Aug. 2003; “Home Depot, Lowe’s Squeeze Independent Contractors,” Hometown Advantage Bulletin, July 26, 2005. The Rutland survey was undertaken by DANTH, Inc., in 1998. 12. Stone, “Competing with the Discount Mass Merchandisers”; Brenden

The Gig Economy: The Complete Guide to Getting Better Work, Taking More Time Off, and Financing the Life You Want

by Diane Mulcahy  · 8 Nov 2016  · 229pp  · 61,482 words

What's Yours Is Mine: Against the Sharing Economy

by Tom Slee  · 18 Nov 2015  · 265pp  · 69,310 words

Peers Inc: How People and Platforms Are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism

by Robin Chase  · 14 May 2015  · 330pp  · 91,805 words

The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security

by Deborah D. Avant  · 17 Oct 2010  · 872pp  · 135,196 words

Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley From Building a New Global Underclass

by Mary L. Gray and Siddharth Suri  · 6 May 2019  · 346pp  · 97,330 words

The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People - and the Fight for Our Future

by Alec Ross  · 13 Sep 2021  · 363pp  · 109,077 words

After the Gig: How the Sharing Economy Got Hijacked and How to Win It Back

by Juliet Schor, William Attwood-Charles and Mehmet Cansoy  · 15 Mar 2020  · 296pp  · 83,254 words

Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army

by Jeremy Scahill  · 1 Jan 2007  · 924pp  · 198,159 words

What Went Wrong: How the 1% Hijacked the American Middle Class . . . And What Other Countries Got Right

by George R. Tyler  · 15 Jul 2013  · 772pp  · 203,182 words

WTF?: What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us

by Tim O'Reilly  · 9 Oct 2017  · 561pp  · 157,589 words

The Vietnam War: An Intimate History

by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns  · 4 Sep 2017  · 1,433pp  · 315,911 words

Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work

by Alex Rosenblat  · 22 Oct 2018  · 343pp  · 91,080 words

Empire of Guns

by Priya Satia  · 10 Apr 2018  · 927pp  · 216,549 words

From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry

by Martin Campbell-Kelly  · 15 Jan 2003

Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work

by Sarah Kessler  · 11 Jun 2018  · 246pp  · 68,392 words

Construction Project Management

by S. Keoki Sears  · 7 Feb 2015

Humans as a Service: The Promise and Perils of Work in the Gig Economy

by Jeremias Prassl  · 7 May 2018  · 491pp  · 77,650 words

The Gig Economy: A Critical Introduction

by Jamie Woodcock and Mark Graham  · 17 Jan 2020  · 207pp  · 59,298 words

The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century

by Steve Coll  · 29 Mar 2009  · 769pp  · 224,916 words

J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2022: For Preparing Your 2021 Tax Return

by J. K. Lasser Institute  · 21 Dec 2021

Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (And Why We Don't Talk About It)

by Elizabeth S. Anderson  · 22 May 2017  · 205pp  · 58,054 words

Rentier Capitalism: Who Owns the Economy, and Who Pays for It?

by Brett Christophers  · 17 Nov 2020  · 614pp  · 168,545 words

Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation

by Anne Helen Petersen  · 14 Jan 2021  · 297pp  · 88,890 words

System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot

by Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami and Jeremy M. Weinstein  · 6 Sep 2021

Who Stole the American Dream?

by Hedrick Smith  · 10 Sep 2012  · 598pp  · 172,137 words

Death of the Liberal Class

by Chris Hedges  · 14 May 2010  · 422pp  · 89,770 words

J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax

by J K Lasser Institute  · 30 Oct 2012  · 2,045pp  · 566,714 words

Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris

by Richard Kluger  · 1 Jan 1996  · 1,157pp  · 379,558 words

Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield

by Jeremy Scahill  · 22 Apr 2013  · 1,117pp  · 305,620 words

Culture & Empire: Digital Revolution

by Pieter Hintjens  · 11 Mar 2013  · 349pp  · 114,038 words

The Job: The Future of Work in the Modern Era

by Ellen Ruppel Shell  · 22 Oct 2018  · 402pp  · 126,835 words

Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire

by Brad Stone  · 10 May 2021  · 569pp  · 156,139 words

The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power

by Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie  · 6 May 2019  · 328pp  · 84,682 words

Economic Dignity

by Gene Sperling  · 14 Sep 2020  · 667pp  · 149,811 words

How to Fix the Future: Staying Human in the Digital Age

by Andrew Keen  · 1 Mar 2018  · 308pp  · 85,880 words

Chokepoint Capitalism

by Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow  · 26 Sep 2022  · 396pp  · 113,613 words

Inner Entrepreneur: A Proven Path to Profit and Peace

by Grant Sabatier  · 10 Mar 2025  · 442pp  · 126,902 words

Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted America

by Erik Baker  · 13 Jan 2025  · 362pp  · 132,186 words

Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World

by Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott  · 9 May 2016  · 515pp  · 126,820 words

Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist

by Liz Pelly  · 7 Jan 2025  · 293pp  · 104,461 words

The Docks

by Bill Sharpsteen  · 5 Jan 2011  · 326pp  · 29,543 words

The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy

by Peter Temin  · 17 Mar 2017  · 273pp  · 87,159 words

The Winner-Take-All Society: Why the Few at the Top Get So Much More Than the Rest of Us

by Robert H. Frank, Philip J. Cook  · 2 May 2011

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

by Jane Mayer  · 19 Jan 2016  · 558pp  · 168,179 words

Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House

by Cheryl Mendelson  · 4 Nov 1999  · 1,631pp  · 468,342 words

The Network Imperative: How to Survive and Grow in the Age of Digital Business Models

by Barry Libert and Megan Beck  · 6 Jun 2016  · 285pp  · 58,517 words

Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet

by Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider  · 14 Aug 2017  · 237pp  · 67,154 words

Riding for Deliveroo: Resistance in the New Economy

by Callum Cant  · 11 Nov 2019  · 196pp  · 55,862 words

Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves From the American Dream

by Alissa Quart  · 14 Mar 2023  · 304pp  · 86,028 words

The Lonely Century: How Isolation Imperils Our Future

by Noreena Hertz  · 13 May 2020  · 506pp  · 133,134 words

The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government

by David Talbot  · 5 Sep 2016  · 891pp  · 253,901 words

The Laundromat : Inside the Panama Papers, Illicit Money Networks, and the Global Elite

by Jake Bernstein  · 14 Oct 2019  · 470pp  · 125,992 words

After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made

by Ben Rhodes  · 1 Jun 2021  · 342pp  · 114,118 words

Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom

by Grace Blakeley  · 11 Mar 2024  · 371pp  · 137,268 words

The Pursuit of Power: Europe, 1815-1914

by Richard J. Evans  · 31 Aug 2016  · 976pp  · 329,519 words

The Story of Stuff: The Impact of Overconsumption on the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-And How We Can Make It Better

by Annie Leonard  · 22 Feb 2011  · 538pp  · 138,544 words

Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy That Works for Progress, People and Planet

by Klaus Schwab  · 7 Jan 2021  · 460pp  · 107,454 words

The Costs of Connection: How Data Is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism

by Nick Couldry and Ulises A. Mejias  · 19 Aug 2019  · 458pp  · 116,832 words

The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway

by Doug Most  · 4 Feb 2014  · 485pp  · 143,790 words

Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play

by Morgan Ramsay and Peter Molyneux  · 28 Jul 2011  · 500pp  · 146,240 words

Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America

by Henry Petroski  · 2 Jan 1995

Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection

by Jacob Silverman  · 17 Mar 2015  · 527pp  · 147,690 words

Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War

by James Risen  · 15 Feb 2014  · 339pp  · 99,674 words

The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against Al-Qaeda

by Ali H. Soufan and Daniel Freedman  · 11 Sep 2011  · 624pp  · 189,582 words

The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition

by Jonathan Tepper  · 20 Nov 2018  · 417pp  · 97,577 words

Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity

by Douglas Rushkoff  · 1 Mar 2016  · 366pp  · 94,209 words

5 Day Weekend: Freedom to Make Your Life and Work Rich With Purpose

by Nik Halik and Garrett B. Gunderson  · 5 Mar 2018  · 290pp  · 72,046 words

The Rise of the Network Society

by Manuel Castells  · 31 Aug 1996  · 843pp  · 223,858 words

We Are the Nerds: The Birth and Tumultuous Life of Reddit, the Internet's Culture Laboratory

by Christine Lagorio-Chafkin  · 1 Oct 2018

Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World

by Joseph Menn  · 3 Jun 2019  · 302pp  · 85,877 words

Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age

by Leslie Berlin  · 7 Nov 2017  · 615pp  · 168,775 words

Competition Overdose: How Free Market Mythology Transformed Us From Citizen Kings to Market Servants

by Maurice E. Stucke and Ariel Ezrachi  · 14 May 2020  · 511pp  · 132,682 words

Virtual Competition

by Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice E. Stucke  · 30 Nov 2016

Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future

by Ben Tarnoff  · 13 Jun 2022  · 234pp  · 67,589 words

The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World

by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian  · 7 Oct 2024  · 336pp  · 104,899 words

Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It

by Cory Doctorow  · 6 Oct 2025  · 313pp  · 94,415 words

Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy That Works for Progress, People and Planet

by Klaus Schwab and Peter Vanham  · 27 Jan 2021  · 460pp  · 107,454 words

Exponential: How Accelerating Technology Is Leaving Us Behind and What to Do About It

by Azeem Azhar  · 6 Sep 2021  · 447pp  · 111,991 words

Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves From the Tyranny of the Automobile

by Sarah Goodyear, Doug Gordon and Aaron Naparstek  · 21 Oct 2025  · 330pp  · 85,349 words

The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier

by Ian Urbina  · 19 Aug 2019

Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy

by Andrew Yang  · 15 Nov 2021

The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea

by Steve Levine  · 23 Oct 2007  · 568pp  · 162,366 words

Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey Into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

by Corey Pein  · 23 Apr 2018  · 282pp  · 81,873 words

The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class

by Guy Standing  · 27 Feb 2011  · 209pp  · 89,619 words

Travel While You Work: The Ultimate Guide to Running a Business From Anywhere

by Mish Slade  · 13 Aug 2015  · 288pp  · 66,996 words

More: The 10,000-Year Rise of the World Economy

by Philip Coggan  · 6 Feb 2020  · 524pp  · 155,947 words

Rewriting the Rules of the European Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity

by Joseph E. Stiglitz  · 28 Jan 2020  · 408pp  · 108,985 words

Rockonomics: A Backstage Tour of What the Music Industry Can Teach Us About Economics and Life

by Alan B. Krueger  · 3 Jun 2019

Work Less, Live More: The Way to Semi-Retirement

by Robert Clyatt  · 28 Sep 2007

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century

by Jessica Bruder  · 18 Sep 2017  · 273pp  · 85,195 words

Value of Everything: An Antidote to Chaos The

by Mariana Mazzucato  · 25 Apr 2018  · 457pp  · 125,329 words

We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now: The Global Uprising Against Poverty Wages

by Annelise Orleck  · 27 Feb 2018  · 382pp  · 107,150 words

A Hacker's Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend Them Back

by Bruce Schneier  · 7 Feb 2023  · 306pp  · 82,909 words

Not Working: Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone?

by David G. Blanchflower  · 12 Apr 2021  · 566pp  · 160,453 words

An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination

by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang  · 12 Jul 2021  · 372pp  · 100,947 words

Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong About the Future of Transportation

by Paris Marx  · 4 Jul 2022  · 295pp  · 81,861 words

Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech

by Brian Merchant  · 25 Sep 2023  · 524pp  · 154,652 words

Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology

by Anu Bradford  · 25 Sep 2023  · 898pp  · 236,779 words

Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age

by Duncan J. Watts  · 1 Feb 2003  · 379pp  · 113,656 words

Lifestyle Entrepreneur: Live Your Dreams, Ignite Your Passions and Run Your Business From Anywhere in the World

by Jesse Krieger  · 2 Jun 2014  · 189pp  · 52,741 words

The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

by George Packer  · 4 Mar 2014  · 559pp  · 169,094 words

Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions That Shape Social Media

by Tarleton Gillespie  · 25 Jun 2018  · 390pp  · 109,519 words

Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy--And How to Make Them Work for You

by Sangeet Paul Choudary, Marshall W. van Alstyne and Geoffrey G. Parker  · 27 Mar 2016  · 421pp  · 110,406 words

The Tylenol Mafia

by Scott Bartz  · 21 Sep 2011  · 756pp  · 167,393 words

Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America's Favorite Food

by Steve Striffler  · 24 Jul 2007  · 208pp  · 51,277 words

The Pirates of Somalia: Inside Their Hidden World

by Jay Bahadur  · 18 Jul 2011  · 286pp  · 87,870 words

Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes

by Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne  · 5 Sep 2007  · 458pp  · 134,028 words

Digital Barbarism: A Writer's Manifesto

by Mark Helprin  · 19 Apr 2009  · 272pp  · 83,378 words

How to Form Your Own California Corporation

by Anthony Mancuso  · 2 Jan 1977

Red-Blooded Risk: The Secret History of Wall Street

by Aaron Brown and Eric Kim  · 10 Oct 2011  · 483pp  · 141,836 words

How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World: A Handbook for Personal Liberty

by Harry Browne  · 1 Jan 1973  · 312pp  · 114,586 words

Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business

by Paul Jarvis  · 1 Jan 2019  · 258pp  · 74,942 words

Samsung Rising: The Inside Story of the South Korean Giant That Set Out to Beat Apple and Conquer Tech

by Geoffrey Cain  · 15 Mar 2020  · 540pp  · 119,731 words

Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain

by James Bloodworth  · 1 Mar 2018  · 256pp  · 79,075 words

Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way

by Tanja Hester  · 12 Feb 2019  · 231pp  · 76,283 words

The End of Policing

by Alex S. Vitale  · 9 Oct 2017  · 318pp  · 82,452 words

Marx at the Arcade: Consoles, Controllers, and Class Struggle

by Jamie Woodcock  · 17 Jun 2019  · 236pp  · 62,158 words

Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & the Making of the College Admissions Scandal

by Melissa Korn and Jennifer Levitz  · 20 Jul 2020  · 520pp  · 134,627 words

The Smartphone Society

by Nicole Aschoff

The Passenger

by AA.VV.  · 23 May 2022  · 192pp  · 59,615 words

Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology From Capitalism

by Wendy Liu  · 22 Mar 2020  · 223pp  · 71,414 words

Care: The Highest Stage of Capitalism

by Premilla Nadasen  · 10 Oct 2023  · 288pp  · 82,972 words

Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI

by Madhumita Murgia  · 20 Mar 2024  · 336pp  · 91,806 words

You've Been Played: How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All

by Adrian Hon  · 14 Sep 2022  · 371pp  · 107,141 words

The Purpose Economy: How Your Desire for Impact, Personal Growth and Community Is Changing the World

by Aaron Hurst  · 31 Aug 2013  · 209pp  · 63,649 words

New Laws of Robotics: Defending Human Expertise in the Age of AI

by Frank Pasquale  · 14 May 2020  · 1,172pp  · 114,305 words

The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation

by Carl Benedikt Frey  · 17 Jun 2019  · 626pp  · 167,836 words

Arriving Today: From Factory to Front Door -- Why Everything Has Changed About How and What We Buy

by Christopher Mims  · 13 Sep 2021  · 385pp  · 112,842 words

Don't Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles--And All of US

by Rana Foroohar  · 5 Nov 2019  · 380pp  · 109,724 words

The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention

by William Rosen  · 31 May 2010  · 420pp  · 124,202 words

One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility

by Zack Furness and Zachary Mooradian Furness  · 28 Mar 2010  · 532pp  · 155,470 words

Stealth of Nations

by Robert Neuwirth  · 18 Oct 2011  · 340pp  · 91,387 words

Cultureshock Paris

by Cultureshock Staff  · 6 Oct 2010  · 401pp  · 108,855 words

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory

by David Graeber  · 14 May 2018  · 385pp  · 123,168 words

Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America

by Alissa Quart  · 25 Jun 2018  · 320pp  · 90,526 words

Wild Ride: Inside Uber's Quest for World Domination

by Adam Lashinsky  · 31 Mar 2017  · 190pp  · 62,941 words

Platform Capitalism

by Nick Srnicek  · 22 Dec 2016  · 116pp  · 31,356 words

The Theft of a Decade: How the Baby Boomers Stole the Millennials' Economic Future

by Joseph C. Sternberg  · 13 May 2019  · 336pp  · 95,773 words

Sabotage: The Financial System's Nasty Business

by Anastasia Nesvetailova and Ronen Palan  · 28 Jan 2020  · 218pp  · 62,889 words

The End of Ownership: Personal Property in the Digital Economy

by Aaron Perzanowski and Jason Schultz  · 4 Nov 2016  · 374pp  · 97,288 words

Faster, Higher, Farther: How One of the World's Largest Automakers Committed a Massive and Stunning Fraud

by Jack Ewing  · 22 May 2017  · 434pp  · 114,583 words

A Pelican Introduction: Basic Income

by Guy Standing  · 3 May 2017  · 307pp  · 82,680 words

The New Class Conflict

by Joel Kotkin  · 31 Aug 2014  · 362pp  · 83,464 words

The People's Republic of Walmart: How the World's Biggest Corporations Are Laying the Foundation for Socialism

by Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski  · 5 Mar 2019  · 202pp  · 62,901 words

Amazon: How the World’s Most Relentless Retailer Will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce

by Natalie Berg and Miya Knights  · 28 Jan 2019  · 404pp  · 95,163 words

Interplanetary Robots

by Rod Pyle

The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze

by Laura Shin  · 22 Feb 2022  · 506pp  · 151,753 words

Confessions of a Crypto Millionaire: My Unlikely Escape From Corporate America

by Dan Conway  · 8 Sep 2019  · 218pp  · 68,648 words

Essential: How the Pandemic Transformed the Long Fight for Worker Justice

by Jamie K. McCallum  · 15 Nov 2022  · 349pp  · 99,230 words

The Origins of Efficiency

by Brian Potter  · 15 Feb 2025  · 474pp  · 134,246 words

Lessons-Learned-in-Software-Testing-A-Context-Driven-Approach

by Anson-QA

The Search for Life on Mars

by Elizabeth Howell  · 14 Apr 2020  · 530pp  · 145,220 words

King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone

by David Carey  · 7 Feb 2012  · 421pp  · 128,094 words

The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity

by Tim Wu  · 4 Nov 2025  · 246pp  · 65,143 words

Money in the Metaverse: Digital Assets, Online Identities, Spatial Computing and Why Virtual Worlds Mean Real Business

by David G. W. Birch and Victoria Richardson  · 28 Apr 2024  · 249pp  · 74,201 words

Data Science for Business: What You Need to Know About Data Mining and Data-Analytic Thinking

by Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett  · 30 Jun 2013  · 660pp  · 141,595 words

The Right to Earn a Living: Economic Freedom and the Law

by Timothy Sandefur  · 16 Aug 2010  · 399pp  · 155,913 words

Shortchanged: Life and Debt in the Fringe Economy

by Howard Karger  · 9 Sep 2005  · 299pp  · 83,854 words

Reinventing the Bazaar: A Natural History of Markets

by John McMillan  · 1 Jan 2002  · 350pp  · 103,988 words

Leviathan Wakes

by James S. A. Corey  · 14 Jun 2011  · 648pp  · 170,770 words

The Introvert Entrepreneur: Amplify Your Strengths and Create Success on Your Own Terms

by Beth Buelow  · 3 Nov 2015  · 261pp  · 71,349 words

Against Intellectual Monopoly

by Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine  · 6 Jul 2008  · 607pp  · 133,452 words

The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good

by Robert H. Frank  · 3 Sep 2011

When the Wolves Bite: Two Billionaires, One Company, and an Epic Wall Street Battle

by Scott Wapner  · 23 Apr 2018  · 302pp  · 80,287 words

Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World

by Meredith Broussard  · 19 Apr 2018  · 245pp  · 83,272 words

Darwin Among the Machines

by George Dyson  · 28 Mar 2012  · 463pp  · 118,936 words

Superminds: The Surprising Power of People and Computers Thinking Together

by Thomas W. Malone  · 14 May 2018  · 344pp  · 104,077 words

The New Class War: Saving Democracy From the Metropolitan Elite

by Michael Lind  · 20 Feb 2020

Bezonomics: How Amazon Is Changing Our Lives and What the World's Best Companies Are Learning From It

by Brian Dumaine  · 11 May 2020  · 411pp  · 98,128 words

Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire

by Rebecca Henderson  · 27 Apr 2020  · 330pp  · 99,044 words

Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires

by Douglas Rushkoff  · 7 Sep 2022  · 205pp  · 61,903 words

Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future

by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson  · 26 Jun 2017  · 472pp  · 117,093 words

The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives

by Lisa Servon  · 10 Jan 2017  · 279pp  · 76,796 words

The Wealth of Humans: Work, Power, and Status in the Twenty-First Century

by Ryan Avent  · 20 Sep 2016  · 323pp  · 90,868 words

City on the Verge

by Mark Pendergrast  · 5 May 2017  · 425pp  · 117,334 words

It's Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear

by Gregg Easterbrook  · 20 Feb 2018  · 424pp  · 119,679 words

The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket

by Benjamin Lorr  · 14 Jun 2020  · 407pp  · 113,198 words

Peer-to-Peer

by Andy Oram  · 26 Feb 2001  · 673pp  · 164,804 words

Work in the Future The Automation Revolution-Palgrave MacMillan (2019)

by Robert Skidelsky Nan Craig  · 15 Mar 2020

Woke, Inc: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam

by Vivek Ramaswamy  · 16 Aug 2021  · 344pp  · 104,522 words

The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It

by Robert B. Reich  · 24 Mar 2020  · 154pp  · 47,880 words

The Capitalist Manifesto

by Johan Norberg  · 14 Jun 2023  · 295pp  · 87,204 words

Uncomfortably Off: Why the Top 10% of Earners Should Care About Inequality

by Marcos González Hernando and Gerry Mitchell  · 23 May 2023

Billionaires' Row: Tycoons, High Rollers, and the Epic Race to Build the World's Most Exclusive Skyscrapers

by Katherine Clarke  · 13 Jun 2023  · 454pp  · 127,319 words

The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet

by Jeff Goodell  · 10 Jul 2023  · 347pp  · 108,323 words

Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency

by James Andrew Miller  · 8 Aug 2016  · 790pp  · 253,035 words

The Googlization of Everything:

by Siva Vaidhyanathan  · 1 Jan 2010  · 281pp  · 95,852 words

Branded Beauty

by Mark Tungate  · 11 Feb 2012  · 290pp  · 87,084 words

The Second Curve: Thoughts on Reinventing Society

by Charles Handy  · 12 Mar 2015  · 164pp  · 57,068 words

Wealth and Poverty: A New Edition for the Twenty-First Century

by George Gilder  · 30 Apr 1981  · 590pp  · 153,208 words

The Retreat of Western Liberalism

by Edward Luce  · 20 Apr 2017  · 223pp  · 58,732 words

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity

by Devon Price  · 4 Apr 2022  · 456pp  · 101,959 words

Open for Business Harnessing the Power of Platform Ecosystems

by Lauren Turner Claire, Laure Claire Reillier and Benoit Reillier  · 14 Oct 2017  · 240pp  · 78,436 words

Working Identity, Updated Edition, With a New Preface: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career

by Herminia Ibarra  · 17 Oct 2023  · 200pp  · 67,943 words

Ghost Road: Beyond the Driverless Car

by Anthony M. Townsend  · 15 Jun 2020  · 362pp  · 97,288 words

The Great Divergence: America's Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It

by Timothy Noah  · 23 Apr 2012  · 309pp  · 91,581 words

Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup

by Brad Feld and David Cohen  · 18 Oct 2010  · 326pp  · 74,433 words

Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World

by Anand Giridharadas  · 27 Aug 2018  · 296pp  · 98,018 words

No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age

by Jane F. McAlevey  · 14 Apr 2016  · 423pp  · 92,798 words

Invisible Women

by Caroline Criado Perez  · 12 Mar 2019  · 480pp  · 119,407 words

Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South

by Beth Macy  · 17 Oct 2016  · 398pp  · 112,350 words

Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks

by Scott J. Shapiro  · 523pp  · 154,042 words

Drugs 2.0: The Web Revolution That's Changing How the World Gets High

by Mike Power  · 1 May 2013  · 378pp  · 94,468 words

Abaddon's Gate

by James S. A. Corey  · 3 Jun 2013  · 586pp  · 167,497 words

The Education of Millionaires: It's Not What You Think and It's Not Too Late

by Michael Ellsberg  · 15 Jan 2011  · 362pp  · 99,063 words

The 37th Parallel: The Secret Truth Behind America's UFO Highway

by Ben Mezrich  · 5 Sep 2016  · 286pp  · 77,039 words

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

by Christopher Paolini  · 14 Sep 2020  · 1,171pp  · 309,640 words

How the World Ran Out of Everything

by Peter S. Goodman  · 11 Jun 2024  · 528pp  · 127,605 words

Up and Down Stairs: The History of the Country House Servant

by Jeremy Musson  · 12 Nov 2009  · 516pp  · 128,667 words

The View From Flyover Country: Dispatches From the Forgotten America

by Sarah Kendzior  · 24 Apr 2015  · 172pp  · 48,747 words

Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech

by Sara Wachter-Boettcher  · 9 Oct 2017  · 223pp  · 60,909 words

Driverless Cars: On a Road to Nowhere

by Christian Wolmar  · 18 Jan 2018

Rule of the Robots: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything

by Martin Ford  · 13 Sep 2021  · 288pp  · 86,995 words

There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America

by Brian Goldstone  · 25 Mar 2025  · 512pp  · 153,059 words

Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work

by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal  · 21 Feb 2017  · 407pp  · 90,238 words

Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician

by Sandeep Jauhar  · 18 Aug 2014  · 320pp  · 97,509 words

America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom

by Meghan McCain and Michael Black  · 31 May 2012  · 367pp  · 117,340 words

My Start-Up Life: What A

by Ben Casnocha and Marc Benioff  · 7 May 2007  · 207pp  · 63,071 words

Better Buses, Better Cities: How to Plan, Run, and Win the Fight for Effective Transit

by Steven Higashide  · 9 Oct 2019  · 195pp  · 52,701 words

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

by Tony Hsieh  · 6 Jun 2010  · 222pp  · 75,778 words

The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America

by Gabriel Winant  · 23 Mar 2021  · 563pp  · 136,190 words

To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others

by Daniel H. Pink  · 1 Dec 2012  · 243pp  · 61,237 words

Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action That Changed America

by Writers For The 99%  · 17 Dec 2011  · 173pp  · 54,729 words

American Pain: How a Young Felon and His Ring of Doctors Unleashed America’s Deadliest Drug Epidemic

by John Temple  · 28 Sep 2015  · 308pp  · 96,604 words

The AI-First Company

by Ash Fontana  · 4 May 2021  · 296pp  · 66,815 words

The Money Tree: A Story About Finding the Fortune in Your Own Backyard

by Chris Guillebeau  · 6 Apr 2020  · 237pp  · 66,545 words

Off the Books

by Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh

Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes: Essays

by Phoebe Robinson  · 14 Oct 2021  · 265pp  · 93,354 words

Against All Enemies

by Tom Clancy and Peter Telep  · 13 Jun 2011  · 640pp  · 177,786 words

Spam Nation: The Inside Story of Organized Cybercrime-From Global Epidemic to Your Front Door

by Brian Krebs  · 18 Nov 2014  · 252pp  · 75,349 words

Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?

by Thomas Frank  · 15 Mar 2016  · 316pp  · 87,486 words

Only Humans Need Apply: Winners and Losers in the Age of Smart Machines

by Thomas H. Davenport and Julia Kirby  · 23 May 2016  · 347pp  · 97,721 words

The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career

by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha  · 14 Feb 2012  · 176pp  · 55,819 words

Curation Nation

by Rosenbaum, Steven  · 27 Jan 2011  · 286pp  · 82,065 words

The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches From the Border

by Francisco Cantú  · 1 Jan 2018  · 191pp  · 67,625 words

Trees on Mars: Our Obsession With the Future

by Hal Niedzviecki  · 15 Mar 2015  · 343pp  · 102,846 words

The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay

by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman  · 14 Oct 2019  · 232pp  · 70,361 words

The Billionaire and the Mechanic: How Larry Ellison and a Car Mechanic Teamed Up to Win Sailing's Greatest Race, the Americas Cup, Twice

by Julian Guthrie  · 31 Mar 2014  · 428pp  · 138,235 words

The Cobweb

by Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George  · 31 May 2005  · 514pp  · 153,274 words

A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream

by Yuval Levin  · 21 Jan 2020  · 224pp  · 71,060 words

Automation and the Future of Work

by Aaron Benanav  · 3 Nov 2020  · 175pp  · 45,815 words

The Ghost Map: A Street, an Epidemic and the Hidden Power of Urban Networks.

by Steven Johnson  · 18 Oct 2006  · 304pp  · 88,773 words

Busting Vegas: The MIT Whiz Kid Who Brought the Casinos to Their Knees

by Ben Mezrich  · 26 Sep 2005  · 303pp  · 81,981 words

Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble

by Dan Lyons  · 4 Apr 2016  · 284pp  · 92,688 words

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America

by Barbara Ehrenreich  · 2 Jan 2003  · 200pp  · 72,182 words

Upgrade

by Blake Crouch  · 6 Jul 2022  · 396pp  · 96,049 words

Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed

by Alexis Ohanian  · 30 Sep 2013  · 216pp  · 61,061 words

On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane

by Emily Guendelsberger  · 15 Jul 2019  · 382pp  · 114,537 words

Lethal Passage

by Erik Larson  · 27 Jul 2011  · 291pp  · 87,296 words

Home Building Secrets: Save Thousands Building Your Next Home: For the first time homeowner or the second time homeower who did not learn from their first mistakes

by Ronald Jones  · 22 Dec 2015  · 83pp  · 26,284 words

J.K. Lasser's New Tax Law Simplified: Tax Relief From the HIRE Act, Health Care Reform, and More

by Barbara Weltman  · 30 Nov 2010

Codependent No More Workbook

by Melody Beattie  · 3 Dec 2011

Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond

by Tamara Kneese  · 14 Aug 2023  · 284pp  · 75,744 words