To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that explores the willingness to pay for social insurance among gig workers, using a discrete choice experiment. This contrasts with other studies, which have analyzed the willingness to pay among informally employed workers more generally, relying typically on stated preferences. We also examine potential complementarities, as they may be seen by gig workers themselves, between private and social insurance instruments, as well as between social insurance instruments themselves, a subject that has not received sufficient attention. Finally, studies on social protection for gig workers have tended to focus on developed Western countries (Corujo, 2017; Forde et al., 2017; Petropoulos et al., 2019), where the initial conditions of social protection and the functioning of labor market institutions and mechanisms may be markedly different from those in developing countries. Given the increasing importance of the gig economy in developing countries, and its implications for the protection of workers, our analysis is highly relevant and timely to contribute to filling a critical research gap. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 provides an overview of the literature. Section 3 describes the online survey conducted for this analysis and the data generated through it, including the vignette-based experiment that was embedded in the survey. Section 4 discusses the methodology including the identification strategy. Section 5 presents results including (a) descriptive statistics, and (b) econometric analysis – including heterogeneity of estimates across relevant sub-groups. Section 6 concludes with a discussion of results and implications for policy.

# **2 Literature Review**

Digital labor platforms are divided into two broad categories, the first being online web-based platforms, and the second being location-based platforms (ILO 2021; World Bank 2023). Through these platforms, three types of tasks may be performed; digital microtasks, digital work (which are hosted on web-based platforms), and location-based work (which is hosted on location-based platforms). Digital microtasks refer to simple tasks performed on web-based platforms that do not require specific skills, such as data entry or the processing of images. Freelance work refers to skilled digital work, such as website development, graphic design, or software testing, also performed on web-based platforms. Locationbased work refers to work that is enabled through digital means (typically through an app) but needs to be performed on-site such as ride-hailing, delivery, and domestic services.

Traditionally, social protection is provided as part of standard employment contracts, characterized by long-term employment, a stable income, and employment benefits including pension plans, health insurance, and paid leave (World Bank 2018). In contrast, work performed on digital platforms is typically short-term and task-based and does not include any of these employment benefits. The rise of digital platform work therefore raises concerns on the protection of digital platform workers. In many countries, self-employed workers – including digital platform workers – are either not covered by social insurance systems or are only covered on a voluntary basis (Behrendt, Nguyen and Rani 2019), as is the case in Malaysia. Even when they are legally covered, provisions for self-employed workers are often less favorable compared to those for standard employees, or formally employed workers (Behrendt et al. 2019).

Recent efforts have sought to include digital platform workers in existing social insurance schemes. One of the ways this is being done is by clarifying the legal classification of such workers. In many cases, recognizing gig workers as employees would automatically grant them access to various employment benefits and rights (Berg et al. 2018). One example is in the case of Spain, where the Spanish Riders’ Law, introduced in 2021 recognizes food delivery riders working through digital platforms as employees if the 3