IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ldr/wpaper/25.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Car Guards of Cape Town: A Public Good Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Hayley McEwen
  • Anthony Leiman

Abstract

Car guards have become a part of everyday life for drivers in Cape Town and other metropolitan centres around South Africa. This paper analyses the development and economic functioning of the industry with the understanding that the market exhibits quasipublic good characteristics. Some unusual phenomena are explored. Firstly free riding does not lead to under-provision in the market due to the survivalist nature of the supply, the noncontractual nature of the demand and varied public perceptions. Secondly private firms enter the market as a signalling device for the heterogeneous quality of car guards. Lastly drivers continue to pay car guards in the face of free riding due to varied preference curves and a degree of altruism in rational agents. Twenty detailed case studies are undertaken and the results presented and used to inform the theoretical conclusions made throughout the paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Hayley McEwen & Anthony Leiman, 2008. "The Car Guards of Cape Town: A Public Good Analysis," SALDRU Working Papers 25, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    • Handle: RePEc:ldr:wpaper:25
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://opensaldru.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11090/30/2008_25.pdf?sequence=1
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph Henrich, 2001. "In Search of Homo Economicus: Behavioral Experiments in 15 Small-Scale Societies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 73-78, May.
    2. repec:elg:eechap:2434_7 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Urs Fischbacher & Simon G�chter, 2005. "Heterogeneous social preferences and the dynamics of free riding in public goods," IEW - Working Papers 261, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    4. Colin F. Camerer & Ernst Fehr, "undated". "Measuring Social Norms and Preferences using Experimental Games: A Guide for Social Scientists," IEW - Working Papers 097, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    5. Freeman, A. III, 1984. "Depletable externalities and pigouvian taxation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 173-179, June.
    6. Samuel Bowles & Robert Boyd & Colin Camerer & Ernst Fehr & Herbert Gintis & Joseph Henrich & Richard McElreath, 2001. "In search of homo economicus: Experiments in 15 small-scale societies," Artefactual Field Experiments 00068, The Field Experiments Website.
    7. Fields, Gary S., 1975. "Rural-urban migration, urban unemployment and underemployment, and job-search activity in LDCs," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 165-187, June.
    8. Baumol,William J. & Oates,Wallace E., 1988. "The Theory of Environmental Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521311120.
    9. K. Pauw & M. Oosthuizen & C. Van Der Westhuizen, 2008. "Graduate Unemployment In The Face Of Skills Shortages: A Labour Market Paradox1," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 76(1), pages 45-57, March.
    10. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-142, March.
    11. Baumol,William J. & Oates,Wallace E., 1988. "The Theory of Environmental Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521322249.
    12. Bradford, David F. & Hildebrandt, Gregory G., 1977. "Observable preferences for public goods," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 111-131, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Saunders, Stephen G. & Lynn, Michael, 2010. "Why tip? An empirical test of motivations for tipping car guards," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 106-113, February.
    2. John Foster & Mihalis Chasomeris, 2017. "Examining car guarding as a livelihood in the informal sector," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(6), pages 525-538, September.
    3. John RW Foster & Mihalis Chasomeris & Derick Blaauw, 2022. "‘This job is not part of my dreams, what do I leave my children? Nothing’. Livelihoods of Durban car guards at ticketed pay to park sites," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 37(5), pages 331-347, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Blair Cleave & Nikos Nikiforakis & Robert Slonim, 2013. "Is there selection bias in laboratory experiments? The case of social and risk preferences," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 16(3), pages 372-382, September.
    2. Parker, Dawn Cassandra, 2007. "Revealing "space" in spatial externalities: Edge-effect externalities and spatial incentives," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 84-99, July.
    3. Lars Hansen, 2002. "Shiftable Externalities: A Market Solution," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 21(3), pages 221-239, March.
    4. Juan Camilo Cardenas & Jeffrey P. Carpenter, 2005. "Experiments and Economic Development: Lessons from Field Labs in the Developing World," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0505, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.
    5. Jérôme Hergueux & Nicolas Jacquemet & Stéphane Luchini & Jason F. Shogren, 2022. "Leveraging the Honor Code: Public Goods Contributions under Oath," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 81(3), pages 591-616, March.
    6. Brandts, Jordi & Riedl, Arno, 2020. "Market interaction and efficient cooperation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    7. Chuah, Swee-Hoon & Hoffmann, Robert & Jones, Martin & Williams, Geoffrey, 2009. "An economic anatomy of culture: Attitudes and behaviour in inter- and intra-national ultimatum game experiments," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 732-744, October.
    8. Frederico Finan & Laura Schechter, 2012. "Vote‐Buying and Reciprocity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(2), pages 863-881, March.
    9. Parker, Dawn C. & Munroe, Darla K., 2007. "The geography of market failure: Edge-effect externalities and the location and production patterns of organic farming," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(4), pages 821-833, February.
    10. Aurora García-Gallego & Nikolaos Georgantzís & Ainhoa Jaramillo-Gutiérrez, 2013. "Country Differences in Ultimatum Wage Bargaining with a Real Task: Evidence from Greece, Spain and the UK," Working Papers 2013/13, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    11. Hoffmann, Robert & Tee, Jin-Yee, 2006. "Adolescent-adult interactions and culture in the ultimatum game," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 98-116, February.
    12. Algan, Yann & Cahuc, Pierre, 2014. "Trust, Growth, and Well-Being: New Evidence and Policy Implications," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 2, pages 49-120, Elsevier.
    13. Tobias Hahn & Noël Albert, 2017. "Strong Reciprocity in Consumer Boycotts," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 509-524, October.
    14. MICHAEL R. CARTER & Marco Castillo, 2002. "The Economic Impacts of Altruism, Trust and Reciprocity: An Experimental Approach to Social Capital," Wisconsin-Madison Agricultural and Applied Economics Staff Papers 448, Wisconsin-Madison Agricultural and Applied Economics Department.
    15. Frey, Bruno S. & Torgler, Benno, 2007. "Tax morale and conditional cooperation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 136-159, March.
    16. Linda Ferguson & Peter Mcgregor & J. Kim Swales & Karen Turner & Ya Ping Yin, 2005. "Incorporating sustainability indicators into a computable general equilibrium model of the scottish economy," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 103-140.
    17. Eugen Dimant & Michele Gelfand & Anna Hochleitner & Silvia Sonderegger, 2023. "Strategic Behavior with Tight, Loose and Polarized Norms," CESifo Working Paper Series 10233, CESifo.
    18. Cleave, Blair L. & Nikiforakis, Nikos & Slonim, Robert, 2010. "Is There Selection Bias in Laboratory Experiments?," Working Papers 2010-01, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    19. Kuroishi, Yusuke & Sawada, Yasuyuki, 2019. "Motivations behind prosocial behavior: Evidence from the Philippines," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-1.
    20. E.T. Verhoef, 1999. "Externalities," Chapters, in: Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh (ed.), Handbook of Environmental and Resource Economics, chapter 13, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ldr:wpaper:25. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Alison Siljeur (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sauctza.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.