Can’t Buy Me Love: The Negligible Impact of Foreign Aid on Foreign Public Opinion

The impact of foreign aid on foreign public opinion has been examined in very few studies. Overall, the correlation between foreign aid disbursements and public opinion in recipient countries seems to be weak. However, aid has been found to improve public opinion of the United States under specific circumstances. Tokdemir (2017) finds that this is conditional on the regime type, with positive effects found in recipient states that are democratic, but not in non-democratic states. Goldsmith, Horiuchi, and Wood (2014) find that positive attitudes about the US develop when US aid is, “… targeted, sustained, effective, and visible.” Our findings lead to a more skeptical perspective. The analysis uses newer Pew Research Center data that moves us into the Trump years. A cross-sectional longitudinal analysis indicates that correlations between aid contributions and foreign public opinion disappear when controlling for attitudes about the US president. These results are corroborated in crucial case studies of Kenya and Turkey. The research findings are important for governments that are attempting to influence foreign opinion by giving foreign aid.