Demand for reliability of road services under decentralized structures of provision: The case of Fianarantsoa, Madagascar.

摘要

Economic theory categorizes road services as public, local or club goods depending on how difficult it is to get consumer's preferences revealed because of the "free rider" characteristic of these goods. This dissertation develops a mechanism to capture consumer demand for rural roads categorized as local goods in the province of Fianarantsoa in Madagascar. It measures demand from the reliability perspective. The modeling approach is based on discrete choice theory under the assumption that consumers adopt a diverse range of responses to unavailability and inadequacy of road services. Revealed household responses (as producers and consumers) to unreliability of road services serve indirectly as expressions of preferences for service use.;Findings show that road consumers in Fianarantsoa indeed evaluate the quality of services. Those not satisfied with the supplied level of performance, have reacted by expressing dissatisfaction through adoption of responses such as using foot paths, investing in actual road maintenance, etc. There are a number of household specific and regional determinants of willingness to respond. Decentralization by default, local government expenditures, and the production structure are some of these parameters. Finally, results indicate that societal benefits are greater than costs incurred by local governments as there is an increase in government expenditures on road services.