Gender-Specific Benefits from Ride-Hailing Apps: Evidence from Uber's Entry in Chile

47 Pages Posted: 12 May 2019

See all articles by Vicente Lagos

Vicente Lagos

Telecom ParisTech

Ángela Muñoz

Télécom Paris; Deloitte France

Christine Zulehner

University of Vienna - Faculty of Business, Economics, and Statistics; Télécom Paris; Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Date Written: April 12, 2019

Abstract

In this paper we empirically assess the impact of the deployment of Uber on the incidence of drunk-driving fatal traffic accidents and fatalities in Chile. Based on observational data about accidents and the fact that Uber entered first the Metropolitan Region (Santiago), we are able to exploit differences in entry dates and availability of the service across municipalities to identify the effects of Uber’s entry by using a difference-in-differences approach. We contribute to the literature by assessing whether there is a differentiated effect between male and female fatalities and according to their role in the accident (i.e., driver or passenger). In particular, the presence of a mobility bias against women in the traditional transport sector may imply that Uber brings greater benefits for them. Our results suggest that Uber’s entry has significantly decreased the number of drunk-driving fatal accidents and fatalities, mainly during the nighttime. We show that this effect is mainly driven by a reduction in the number of female passengers’ fatalities and the number of nighttime male drivers’ fatalities in these types of accidents. The results are robust to the inclusion of different sets of controls and exposure measures.

Keywords: Uber, ride-hailing, alcohol-related accidents, drunk-driving, traffic fatalities, mobility bias

JEL Classification: I12, I18, K42, R41

Suggested Citation

Lagos, Vicente and Muñoz, Ángela and Zulehner, Christine, Gender-Specific Benefits from Ride-Hailing Apps: Evidence from Uber's Entry in Chile (April 12, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3370411 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3370411

Vicente Lagos

Telecom ParisTech ( email )

19 Place Marguerite Perey
Palaiseau, 91120
France

Ángela Muñoz (Contact Author)

Télécom Paris ( email )

19 Place Marguerite Perey
Palaiseau, 91120
France

Deloitte France ( email )

Tour Majunga, 6 Place de la Pyramide
Paris-la-Défense, Paris-la-Défense Cedex 92908
France

Christine Zulehner

University of Vienna - Faculty of Business, Economics, and Statistics ( email )

Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1
Wien, 1090
Austria

HOME PAGE: http://homepage.univie.ac.at/christine.zulehner

Télécom Paris ( email )

19 Place Marguerite Perey
Palaiseau, 91120
France

Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) ( email )

P.O. Box 91
Wien, A-1103
Austria

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

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