Aiding Human Rights? The Effect of U.S., European, and Chinese Development Assistance on Rights Practices in Recipient Countries, 2001 to 2017

Abstract Official development assistance (ODA) refers to aid intended to promote economic development and wellbeing in developing countries. The effect of ODA from Western donors continues to be debated, but the impact of aid from non-Western countries such as China is a relatively new field of inquiry and analysis. Using data on Western ODA and a new dataset of “ODA-like” disbursements from China, this article analyzes the relationship between bilateral aid receipts from three sources—the United States, major European donors, and China—and two sets of human rights practices: physical integrity and “empowerment” (i.e., civil and political) rights. Analyses are conducted using panel fixed-effects regression models with and without instrumental variables. U.S. ODA, in particular, improves human rights in recipient countries. Estimated effects of bilateral ODA from European donors and China are far less robust. These results suggest that U.S. aid is not as ineffective nor Chinese aid as pernicious as is commonly assumed.