Chinese aid and democratic values in Latin America

Arbeitspapier

International economic engagement has been increasingly framed in terms of liberal democratic values. Specifically, Chinese aid has been at the center of this debate. Since Chinese aid comes with "no strings attached," a popular narrative is that Chinese aid poses a challenge to conditional aid, thus weakening democracy promotion. This study aims to deepen our understanding of how democratic values are shaped by international economic engagement. Drawing on the Latinobarómetro Household Survey, we use an instrumental variable approach to test the effect of Chinese aid on attitudes toward democracy in 18 Latin American countries on the national and regional level. We find that Chinese aid has a non-negative effect on support for democracy. We also find that individuals who have a positive attitude towards China are more likely to value democracy. In contrast, positive attitudes towards the USA have no robust impact on support for democracy.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Jena Economic Research Papers ; No. 2022-006

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Foreign Aid ; Economic Impacts of Globalization: Microeconomic Impacts ; Economic Impacts of Globalization: Other ; Economywide Country Studies: Latin America; Caribbean ; Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: International Trade, Finance, Investment, Relations, and Aid
• Subject: China ; Latin America ; foreign aid ; public opinion ; support for democracy ; values

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Freytag, Andreas ; Kautz, Miriam
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
• (where): Jena
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/268234
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET