Financing Climate Resilience in Fragile States: Experimental Evidence from Haiti

Haiti is among the most disaster-prone countries in the world. This study draws on two survey experiments embedded in a national online survey (n = 1,300) to investigate how Haitians think about funding climate resilience efforts. The first, a conjoint experiment, explores citizens’ preferences for different financing arrangements, from full taxation to hybrid models that combine taxes with contributions from donors, diaspora groups, and community organizations. It also examines how preferences shift across different tax instruments, decision-making structures, and accountability mechanisms. The second, a vignette experiment, probes whom Haitians trust to distribute post-disaster aid (including unconventional actors such as armed groups) and how these preferences vary by disaster type and form of relief. It further assesses people’s willingness to support these actors financially or in kind. Findings shed light on public opinion toward climate-related public financing and co-funding and highlight the role of non-state actors in mobilizing resources in fragile, aid-dependent states. These issues are especially salient in an era of declining foreign aid.