Join us for an engaging SER Café event featuring a thought-provoking discussion with recent Socio-Economic Review authors, Tiago Vieira (European University Institute), Pedro Mendonça (Heriot-Watt University), Qi Song (Northwestern University), and Tiantian Liu (The University of Manchester).

The paper published by Tiago Vieira and Pedro Mendonça in 2025, The times, are they changing? Examining platform companies’ chameleonic labour process as a response to the Spanish Rey Rider, Tiago Vieira, Pedro Mendonça investigates the impact of Spain’s Ley Rider (Rider Law), which established a universal presumption of employment for platform couriers by highlighting platform companies as “institutional chameleons,” to underline their ability to adjust their operations to either comply with or circumvent new regulatory frameworks. Qi Song and Tiantian Liu published their study in 2025 called Transcending boundaries and breaking social safety nets: how digital platforms reorganize the market and exacerbate economic insecurity, Qi Song, Tiantian Liu to explore the platformization of the Chinese freight transportation sector, specifically the emergence of the Full Truck Alliance (FTA) by arguing that platforms have replaced traditional “relational infrastructures”—social networks based on trust and local ties—with centralized digital infrastructures.

The event will take place on Friday, January 30^th, 2026, 8:00 AM PT / 4:00 PM GMT (UK) / 5:00 PM CET. Please register at this link: https://utexas.zoom.us/meeting/register/yewOixmESU6pA75inJbSeQ

As with all SER Café events, this session will prioritize dynamic conversation with the authors over lengthy presentations. Come ready to engage, ask questions, and discuss these critical contributions to the field. Our authors look forward to your questions and comments.

Team SER Café (Ezgi, Fan, and Kyungmo)

Socio-Economic Review