September 20, 2013
How does Chinese aid interact with level of democracy in poor countries?
Past research has shown that 'though aid [from wealthier, mostly Western democracies] does not affect quality of life in the aggregate, it is effective when combined with democracy, and ineffective (and possibly harmful) in autocracies' [Kosack, 2003]. So does the effect of Chinese aid/finance to poorer countries follow this pattern? In other words, does the institutional incongruence effect also hold for autocratic donors?