China and the World Bank—How contrasting development approaches affect the stability of African states

Kai Gehring, Lennart Kaplan and Melvin H.L. Wong

Journal of Development Economics, 2022, vol. 158, issue C

Abstract: China’s development model challenges the approaches of traditional donors like the World Bank (WB). While some see this mostly as a chance, Chinese aid specifically and aid in general are also suspected of undermining developing countries’ stability for various reasons. To examine the effect of aid on stability thoroughly, we define stability as a continuum ranging from outright over social conflict to attitudes about democracy. We find no evidence that either WB or Chinese aid increases conflict in Africa using a comprehensive set of georeferenced aid projects and sub-national stability measures. Those results are robust and hold across different types of outright conflict, but also for social conflict. Overall, WB aid correlates more strongly with a reduction of conflict than Chinese aid. Moreover, WB aid is associated with a more positive attitude about democracy, while Chinese aid is related to an increased acceptance of authoritarian models.

Keywords: Development models; Development aid; Stability; Conflict; Attitudes; World Bank; China; Africa; Geolocation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 F52 H81 O19 P51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Related works:
Working Paper: China and the World Bank - How Contrasting Development Approaches Affect the Stability of African States (2019)
Working Paper: China and the World Bank - How Contrasting Development Approaches affect the Stability of African States (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:158:y:2022:i:c:s0304387822000621

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102902

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