Up before Dawn : Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda Border

Up before Dawn : Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda Border

Small-scale cross-border trade provides opportunities for economic gains in many developing countries. Yet cross-border traders -- many of whom are women -- face harassment and corruption, which can undermine these potential gains. This paper prese...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Croke, Kevin, Garcia Mora, Maria Elena, Goldstein, Markus, Mensah, Edouard, O'Sullivan, Michael
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:
TRADE
GENDER
RANDOMIZED EXPERIMENT
CORRUPTION
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
TRADER TRAINING
AFRICA GENDER POLICY
GENDER INNOVATION LAB
WOMEN AND PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/797981580140722651/Up-before-Dawn-Experimental-Evidence-from-a-Cross-Border-Trader-Training-at-the-Democratic-Republic-of-Congo-Rwanda-Border
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33258
id okr-10986-33258
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-332582022-09-19T12:16:21Z Up before Dawn : Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda Border Croke, Kevin Garcia Mora, Maria Elena Goldstein, Markus Mensah, Edouard O'Sullivan, Michael TRADE GENDER RANDOMIZED EXPERIMENT CORRUPTION GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE TRADER TRAINING AFRICA GENDER POLICY GENDER INNOVATION LAB WOMEN AND PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT Small-scale cross-border trade provides opportunities for economic gains in many developing countries. Yet cross-border traders -- many of whom are women -- face harassment and corruption, which can undermine these potential gains. This paper presents evidence from a randomized controlled trial of a training intervention that provided access to information on procedures, tariffs, and rights to small-scale traders to facilitate border crossings, lower corruption, and reduce gender-based violence along the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)–Rwanda border. The training reduces bribe payment by 5 percentage points in the full sample and by 27.5 percentage points on average among compliers. The training also reduces the incidence of gender-based violence by 5.4 percentage points (30.5 percentage points among compliers). The paper assesses competing explanations for the impacts using a game-theoretic model based on Hirschman's Exit, Voice, and Loyalty framework. The effects are achieved through early border crossings at unofficial hours (exit) instead of traders' use of voice mechanisms or reduced rent-seeking from border officials. These results highlight the need to improve governance and establish clear cross-border trade regulations, particularly on the DRC side of the border. 2020-01-30T16:07:23Z 2020-01-30T16:07:23Z 2020-01 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/797981580140722651/Up-before-Dawn-Experimental-Evidence-from-a-Cross-Border-Trader-Training-at-the-Democratic-Republic-of-Congo-Rwanda-Border http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33258 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9123 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Congo, Democratic Republic of Rwanda
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic TRADE
GENDER
RANDOMIZED EXPERIMENT
CORRUPTION
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
TRADER TRAINING
AFRICA GENDER POLICY
GENDER INNOVATION LAB
WOMEN AND PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT
spellingShingle TRADE
GENDER
RANDOMIZED EXPERIMENT
CORRUPTION
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
TRADER TRAINING
AFRICA GENDER POLICY
GENDER INNOVATION LAB
WOMEN AND PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT
Croke, Kevin
Garcia Mora, Maria Elena
Goldstein, Markus
Mensah, Edouard
O'Sullivan, Michael
Up before Dawn : Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda Border
geographic_facet Africa
Congo, Democratic Republic of
Rwanda
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9123
description Small-scale cross-border trade provides opportunities for economic gains in many developing countries. Yet cross-border traders -- many of whom are women -- face harassment and corruption, which can undermine these potential gains. This paper presents evidence from a randomized controlled trial of a training intervention that provided access to information on procedures, tariffs, and rights to small-scale traders to facilitate border crossings, lower corruption, and reduce gender-based violence along the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)–Rwanda border. The training reduces bribe payment by 5 percentage points in the full sample and by 27.5 percentage points on average among compliers. The training also reduces the incidence of gender-based violence by 5.4 percentage points (30.5 percentage points among compliers). The paper assesses competing explanations for the impacts using a game-theoretic model based on Hirschman's Exit, Voice, and Loyalty framework. The effects are achieved through early border crossings at unofficial hours (exit) instead of traders' use of voice mechanisms or reduced rent-seeking from border officials. These results highlight the need to improve governance and establish clear cross-border trade regulations, particularly on the DRC side of the border.
format Working Paper
author Croke, Kevin
Garcia Mora, Maria Elena
Goldstein, Markus
Mensah, Edouard
O'Sullivan, Michael
author_facet Croke, Kevin
Garcia Mora, Maria Elena
Goldstein, Markus
Mensah, Edouard
O'Sullivan, Michael
author_sort Croke, Kevin
title Up before Dawn : Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda Border
title_short Up before Dawn : Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda Border
title_full Up before Dawn : Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda Border
title_fullStr Up before Dawn : Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda Border
title_full_unstemmed Up before Dawn : Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda Border
title_sort up before dawn : experimental evidence from a cross-border trader training at the democratic republic of congo–rwanda border
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/797981580140722651/Up-before-Dawn-Experimental-Evidence-from-a-Cross-Border-Trader-Training-at-the-Democratic-Republic-of-Congo-Rwanda-Border
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33258
_version_ 1764478336477691904

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