现代产业经济学系列讲座第279期

时间：2025年3月11日（周二） 15:30-17:00

地点：复旦管院史带楼303室

题目：Measuring and Boosting the Productivity of Disabled Workers: The Case of Food-Delivery Workers in China

主讲人：袁哲博士（浙江大学）

主持人：李玲芳教授

摘要: Workers with disabilities face significant barriers to securing stable, well-paying jobs, leading to economic hardship and substantial social costs. While disability rights legislation aims to improve employment outcomes, its effectiveness remains uncertain, and little is known about the productivity of disabled workers across different job settings. This paper examines the performance, retention, and profitability of hearing-impaired food-delivery workers in China using comprehensive administrative data from one of the country's largest delivery platforms. To better understand the mechanisms underlying productivity differences, we complement our empirical analysis with ethnographic fieldwork, including in-person interviews with disabled workers and direct observations of their daily work routines. These qualitative insights reveal key operational bottlenecks, particularly in customer interactions and unexpected logistical challenges, that constrain efficiency. Leveraging a policy change, we assess the impact of an intelligent outbound call system designed to improve communication for hearing-impaired workers. We find that this intervention significantly enhances disabled workers’ productivity, reduces negative customer reviews, and increases their work participation, particularly in adverse weather conditions. Our findings highlight the potential of technology-driven interventions to improve the employment outcomes of disabled workers while simultaneously benefiting firms. These results have broader implications for policy design in gig economy settings and labor markets where communication barriers limit worker productivity.

简介：袁哲博士，浙江大学经济学院百人计划研究员，博士生导师。袁哲毕业于多伦多大学（博士）、北京大学（本科）。袁哲的研究领域是算法与人工智能的经济影响、平台经济和产业经济的实证研究。他与多个头部科技公司合作，研究数字平台上的算法与人工智能（搜索推荐系统、大语言模型的影响），平台治理（平台机制设计与信息披露设计），数据要素（数据价值与数据隐私），以及网络经济（航空网络和电信网络）等问题。他的研究发表于多个国际顶级期刊，包括Rand Journal of Economics, AEJ-Microeconomics, Management Science, Information Systems Research等。