The Public's Foreign Aid Priorities: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment

David Doherty

David Doherty; Amanda Clare Bryan; Dina Hanania; Matthew Pajor

Foreign aid is one of the few areas where Americans say the government should spend less. We leverage a unique conjoint experiment to assess how characteristics of an aid package, as well as characteristics of the targeted country, affect public support. We find that people are far more inclined to support economic aid than military aid and are disinclined to provide aid to undemocratic countries. We also find that people are more averse to providing aid—particularly economic aid—to countries in the “greater Middle East” than those countries’ other characteristics would suggest. These effects are comparable to those associated with substantial increases in the cost of the aid package, suggesting that public wariness of foreign aid is not rooted in a fundamental aversion to spending in this domain. Our findings offer new insights into the contours of public opinion regarding foreign aid.

15-Jul-20

American Politics Research

Sage

10.1177/1532673X20939925

Doherty, David, Amanda C. Bryan, Dina Hanania, and Matthew Pajor. 2020. "The Public's Foreign Aid Priorities: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment." American Politics Research 48: 635-648. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X20939925