IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/deveco/v183y2026ics0304387826001355.html

Making information actionable: Experimental evidence from Kenyan courts

Author

Listed:
  • Chemin, Matthieu
  • Chen, Daniel L.
  • Di Maro, Vincenzo
  • Kimalu, Paul
  • Mokaya, Momanyi
  • Ramos-Maqueda, Manuel

Abstract

We conduct a randomized controlled trial across Kenyan courts to tackle a major source of court delays: adjournments, i.e., postponements of cases to later dates without reaching a resolution. Partnering with the Kenyan Judiciary, we introduce a simple, cost-effective one-page document that outlines the main reasons for adjournments in each court. We test this intervention in two experimental arms: one where the information is shared with judges, and the other where it is shared with both judges and court user committees. Our intervention successfully prevents approximately 20,000 adjournments nationwide, with each adjournment previously delaying cases by an average of 3 months. The acceleration of court proceedings leads to a notable increase in the demand for and utilization of the legal system, increasing the filing of cases as well as citizen trust in the justice system. Our findings demonstrate that tackling the underlying reasons for court delays can substantially enhance both the perceived and actual performance of judicial systems, fostering greater usage and trust in legal institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Chemin, Matthieu & Chen, Daniel L. & Di Maro, Vincenzo & Kimalu, Paul & Mokaya, Momanyi & Ramos-Maqueda, Manuel, 2026. "Making information actionable: Experimental evidence from Kenyan courts," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:183:y:2026:i:c:s0304387826001355
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2026.103852
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387826001355
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2026.103852?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:eee:deveco:v:183:y:2026:i:c:s0304387826001355. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/devec .

    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.