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The impact of Chinese aid on political trust

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  • Philip Akrofi Atitianti

Abstract

This paper examines whether Chinese aid impacts citizens' trust in government by matching geocoded data on Chinese aid projects located in sub‐Sahara Africa (SSA) between 2000 and 2014 to respondents from rounds 3 to 6 of Afrobarometer survey. Implementing an instrumental variable (IV) estimation to control for the potential endogeneity of aid, this paper finds robust evidence that Chinese aid reduces trust in government. The decline in trust seems to be because the aid projects stimulate poor assessments of government performance and perceptions that government officials are involved in corrupt activities. Replication analysis reveals that World Bank projects are no different and also reduce trust in government. Consequently, these findings reignite concerns about the unintended consequences of aid and the need to adopt implementation approaches that mitigate unintended adverse outcomes.

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  • Philip Akrofi Atitianti, 2023. "The impact of Chinese aid on political trust," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(2), pages 233-259, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:35:y:2023:i:2:p:233-259
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.3683
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Abreham Adera, 2024. "Chinese Aid Projects and Local Tax Attitudes: Evidence from Africa," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(1), pages 102-134, February.
    2. Lisa Chauvet & Marin Ferry, 2023. "L’efficacité de l’aide : quelles évolutions de la littérature depuis deux décennies ? WP329," Working Papers hal-04141543, HAL.

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