Grady Killeen

Fellowship: Rocca Dissertation
Fellowship Year: 2025
Project Theme/Title: Barriers to new product adoption among firms in sub-Saharan Africa
Abstract: Private enterprises in low and middle-income economies are typically slow to adopt new
products and technologies, harming economic growth. This is particularly true in sub-
Saharan Africa where firms are often small and have low productivity. This project proposes
a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Burundi to investigate whether firms under-adopt
new products because they wait to first observe neighbors sell them to avoid the risk of
suffering losses if consumer demand is low. This information freeriding problem, combined
with the fact that entrants steal business from early adopters which eliminates incentives
to take risks, creates a first-mover disadvantage which theory suggests is likely to prevent
firms from adopting new products efficiently. I aim to grant retailers a temporary period of
exclusive product access to eliminate freeriding and business stealing forces, a common
approach to address this problem in rich settings, and I plan to examine whether this
increases firm adoption of a new solar lamp. The results of this project are likely to yield
policy prescriptions that can increase economic growth in low-income settings and help
consumers gain access to products that they value.

Fellowship: Rocca Pre-Dissertation
Fellowship Year: 2023
Project Theme/Title: Search frictions in the market for helmets in Nairobi, Kenya
Abstract: Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for young adults in Kenya, and motorcycles represent the riskiest mode of transportation. High quality helmets significantly reduce one's risk of dying in a motorcycle accident, but only 3% of motorcycle taxi passengers wear helmets. Improving helmet adoption is thus a major opportunity to improve public health. Based on my prior work suggesting that a lack of availability limits helmet use, I aim to work with an NGO to test whether a helmet delivery service or offering retailers with risk free stocks of helmets can improve helmet uptake in Nairobi, Kenya.