Assistant Professor Gregory Lane and Colleagues Discuss their Research on Providing Public Information and Kenya's Informal Public Transit Sector

Using a randomized control trial with more than a thousand passengers, Assistant Professor Gregory Lane and his colleagues found that passengers do not respond to information they receive privately and do not perceive a large difference between bus companies when it comes to safety. Passengers did respond to publicly provided information and additional publicly available safety information improved transit driver safety among the lowest performing companies. 

When deciding whether to start a information campaign, the authors write, "policymakers should decide whether they believe consumers and firms will react to the information being shared." In addition, "a policy that helps companies achieve this quality (say through a subsidy) may be more useful than an information campaign to consumers." 

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