IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jinsec/v12y2016i03p603-621_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can foreign aid free the press?

Author

Listed:
  • DUTTA, NABAMITA
  • WILLIAMSON, CLAUDIA R.

Abstract

Can foreign aid help free the press? Aid may boost press freedom by incentivizing government to reduce media regulations and provide financial support for infrastructure. Alternatively, foreign aid may prevent press freedom by expanding the role of the state and promoting government over private enterprises. We contend that the magnitude of foreign aid's influence is conditional on the existence of democratic checks. Using panel data from 1994 to 2010, we find evidence suggesting that aid significantly increases press freedom in democracies but insignificantly relates to press freedom in autocracies. Collectively, the results suggest that a standard deviation increase in aid to a country at the mean level of democracy increases press freedom by approximately a 1/20th standard deviation. Overall, the findings suggest that donors should be cautious as most aid recipients are not democratic and aid leads to only relatively small marginal improvements in press freedom.

Suggested Citation

  • Dutta, Nabamita & Williamson, Claudia R., 2016. "Can foreign aid free the press?," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(3), pages 603-621, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jinsec:v:12:y:2016:i:03:p:603-621_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1744137415000557/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kalenborn, Christine & Lessmann, Christian, 2013. "The impact of democracy and press freedom on corruption: Conditionality matters," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 857-886.
    2. David B. Skarbek and Peter T. Leeson, 2009. "What Can Aid Do?," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 29(3), pages 391-397, Fall.
    3. Kilby, Christopher & Dreher, Axel, 2010. "The impact of aid on growth revisited: Do donor motives matter?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(3), pages 338-340, June.
    4. Robert Jensen & Emily Oster, 2009. "The Power of TV: Cable Television and Women's Status in India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(3), pages 1057-1094.
    5. Frey, Bruno S. & Eichenberger, Reiner, 1994. "The political economy of stabilization programmes in developing countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 169-190, May.
    6. Khilji, Nasir M. & Zampelli, Ernest M., 1991. "The fungibility of US assistance to developing countries and the impact on recipient expanditures: a case study of Pakistan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 19(8), pages 1095-1105, August.
    7. William Easterly & Tobias Pfutze, 2008. "Where Does the Money Go? Best and Worst Practices in Foreign Aid," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(2), pages 29-52, Spring.
    8. Christopher J. Coyne & Peter T. Leeson, 2004. "Read All About It! Understanding the Role of Media in Economic Development," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 21-44, February.
    9. Ilyana Kuziemko & Eric Werker, 2006. "How Much Is a Seat on the Security Council Worth? Foreign Aid and Bribery at the United Nations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(5), pages 905-930, October.
    10. Stephen Knack, 2001. "Aid Dependence and the Quality of Governance: Cross-Country Empirical Tests," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 68(2), pages 310-329, October.
    11. Alexander Dyck & Luigi Zingales, 2002. "The Corporate Governance Role of the Media," NBER Working Papers 9309, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Peter T. Leeson, 2008. "Media Freedom, Political Knowledge, and Participation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(2), pages 155-169, Spring.
    13. Goldsmith, Arthur A., 2001. "Foreign Aid and Statehood in Africa," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(1), pages 123-148, January.
    14. Nabamita Dutta & Peter T. Leeson & Claudia R. Williamson, 2013. "The Amplification Effect: Foreign Aid's Impact on Political Institutions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(2), pages 208-228, May.
    15. Christopher J. Coyne & Peter T. Leeson, 2009. "Media as a Mechanism of Institutional Change and Reinforcement," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 1-14, February.
    16. Jac C. Heckelman & Stephen Knack, 2009. "Aid, Economic Freedom, And Growth," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 27(1), pages 46-53, January.
    17. Nabamita Dutta & Sanjukta Roy, 2009. "The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Press Freedom," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 239-257, April.
    18. Matthew Gentzkow, 2006. "Television and Voter Turnout," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(3), pages 931-972.
    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. Dijkstra, Geske, 2018. "Aid and good governance: Examining aggregate unintended effects of aid," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 225-232.
    2. Cooray, Arusha & Dutta, Nabamita & Mallick, Sushanta, 2017. "The right to be free: is media freedom good news for women's rights?," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 327-355, June.
    3. Moteng, Ghislain & Raghutla, Chandrashekar & Njangang, Henri & Nembot, Luc Ndeffo, 2023. "International sanctions and energy poverty in target developing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    4. Christopher Boudreaux & Anand Jha & Monica Escaleras, 2021. "Weathering the Storm: How Foreign Aid and Institutions Affect Entrepreneurship Following Natural Disasters," Papers 2104.12008, arXiv.org.
    5. Bjã˜Rnskov, Christian, 2018. "The Hayek–Friedman hypothesis on the press: is there an association between economic freedom and press freedom?," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 617-638, 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. Russell S. Sobel & Nabamita Dutta & Sanjukta Roy, 2010. "Beyond Borders: Is Media Freedom Contagious?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 133-143, February.
    2. Dutta, Nabamita & Williamson, Claudia R., 2016. "Aiding economic freedom: Exploring the role of political institutions," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(S), pages 24-38.
    3. repec:wvu:wpaper:09-08 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Emmanuelle Auriol & Josepa Miquel-Florensa, 2019. "Taxing fragmented aid to improve aid efficiency," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 453-477, September.
    5. Peter T. Leeson & Andrea M. Dean, 2009. "The Democratic Domino Theory: An Empirical Investigation," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(3), pages 533-551, July.
    6. Altincekic, Ceren & Bearce, David H., 2014. "Why there Should be No Political Foreign Aid Curse," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 18-32.
    7. Yener Altunbas & John Thornton, 2014. "The (small) blessing of foreign aid: further evidence on aid's impact on democracy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(32), pages 3922-3930, November.
    8. Christopher L. Ambrey & Christopher M. Fleming & Matthew Manning & Christine Smith, 2016. "On the Confluence of Freedom of the Press, Control of Corruption and Societal Welfare," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(2), pages 859-880, September.
    9. Dutta, Nabamita & Roy, Sanjukta, 2016. "The interactive impact of press freedom and media reach on corruption," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 227-236.
    10. Alejandro Castañeda & César Martinelli, 2018. "Politics, entertainment and business: a multisided model of media," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 239-256, March.
    11. Axel Dreher & Valentin F. Lang & Sebastian Ziaja, 2017. "Foreign Aid in Areas of Limited Statehood," CESifo Working Paper Series 6340, CESifo.
    12. Nabamita Dutta & Sanjukta Roy, 2013. "The changing face of culture: gauging the impact of a free media," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 95-115, August.
    13. Christopher Boudreaux & Anand Jha & Monica Escaleras, 2021. "Weathering the Storm: How Foreign Aid and Institutions Affect Entrepreneurship Following Natural Disasters," Papers 2104.12008, arXiv.org.
    14. Askarov, Zohid & Doucouliagos, Hristos, 2015. "Aid and institutions in transition economies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 55-70.
    15. Zohid Askarov & Hristos Doucouliagos, 2013. "Does aid improve democracy and governance? A meta-regression analysis," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 601-628, December.
    16. Campa, Pamela, 2018. "Press and leaks: Do newspapers reduce toxic emissions?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 184-202.
    17. World Bank, 2020. "Violence without Borders," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 33330, December.
    18. Miraj ul Haq & Nuzhat Shamim & Muhammad Luqman, 2020. "Foreign Aid, Political Institutions and Economic Freedom: Empirical Evidence from Selected Developing Countries," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 25(1), pages 153-178, Jan-June.
    19. Yukihiro Yazaki, 2017. "Newspapers and political accountability: evidence from Japan," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 311-331, September.
    20. Nabamita Dutta & Russell S. Sobel & Sanjukta Roy, 2016. "Foreign aid’s impact on domestic business climates," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(3), pages 365-382, November.
    21. Jac C. Heckelman, 2010. "Aid and Democratization in the Transition Economies," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 558-579, November.

    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:cup:jinsec:v:12:y:2016:i:03:p:603-621_00. 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: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/joi .

    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.