State vs Consumer Regulation: An Evaluation of Two Road Safety Interventions in Kenya

James Habyarimana and William Jack

No 18378, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper compares the relative impact of two road safety interventions in the Kenyan minibus or matatu sector: a top down set of regulatory requirements known as the Michuki Rules and a consumer empowerment intervention. We use very detailed insurance claims data on three classes of vehicles to implement a difference-in-differences estimation strategy to measure the impact of the Michuki Rules. Despite strong political leadership and dedicated resources, we find no statistically significant effect of the Michuki Rules on accident rates. In contrast, the consumer empowerment intervention that didn't rely on third party enforcement has very large and significant effects on accident rates. Our intent-to-treat estimates suggest reductions in accident rates of at least 50%. Our analysis suggests that in institutionally weak environments, innovative consumer-driven solutions might provide an alternative solution to low quality service provision.

JEL-codes: D13 I12 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev and nep-tre
Note: EH
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published as State versus Consumer Regulation: An Evaluation of Two Road Safety Interventions in Kenya , James Habyarimana, William Jack. in African Successes, Volume I: Government and Institutions , Edwards, Johnson, and Weil. 2016

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w18378.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18378

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w18378

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().