Causal Effects of Entrepreneurship Reform on Institutional Accountability in Uganda: A Difference-in-Differences Design

Entrepreneurship reforms are usually evaluated by their effect on firm entry, employment, or growth, but they can also reshape the public institutions that administer them. Because the design is proposed rather than executed, the paper does not report estimates; it instead specifies the treatment window, comparison groups, outcome indicators, and identifying assumptions. The argument is that a multi-period difference-in-differences approach, with district and year fixed effects and careful attention to staggered rollout, can distinguish an accountability effect from the mechanical effect of more registered firms. The principal threats to identification—anticipatory behaviour, spillovers across districts, differential pre-trends, and policy contamination—are analysed and addressed through placebo tests, synthetic control diagnostics, and heterogeneity analysis.