Bad signals? Foreign aid and tax morale across Sub-Saharan Africa
结合世界银行援助项目的地理数据和30个撒哈拉以南非洲国家的调查数据，发现不涉及国家的公共产品援助项目会降低公民的纳税道德，但若国家本不被期待提供公共产品则无此效应。
Does exposure to foreign aid projects affect citizens’ attitudes towards the state? We examine this question by combining geo-coded data on World Bank aid projects and survey data for 30 Sub-Saharan African countries. We compare individuals across administrative units that vary in the presence and type of aid projects and complement this approach with an unexpected event design that accounts for potential selection concerns. In both analyses, we find that projects focusing on public goods that do not involve the state reduce citizens’ tax morale. However, in locations where the state is not expected to be a public goods’ provider, externally provided public goods do not curb citizens’ tax morale. We interpret these results as evidence of foreign aid sending a public signal of the state’s inability to deliver basic services. Our results can inform multilateral donors on the types and targets of interventions that can backfire on the state.