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This paper explores the informal influence of political leaders' spouses on the subnational allocation and effectiveness of development aid. We investigate whether regions containing the birthplaces of political leaders' spouses receive more aid during their partners' tenure and whether this aid is less effective compared to other times. To examine these patterns, we construct two new global datasets: one tracking the personal characteristics of political leaders and their spouses, and another geocoding aid projects, including new data on the United States and 18 European donors. Our analysis of the 1990--2020 period reveals that regions with the birthplaces of political leaders' spouses receive significantly more aid from Western bilateral donors, while Chinese aid moves from birth regions of spouses to those of the leaders. We find that aid to birth regions of spouses increases more before elections and that developmental outcomes deteriorate rather than improve there when aid is substantial.

About the Speaker

Axel Dreher is professor of International and Development Politics at Heidelberg University’s Alfred-Weber-Institute for Economics and Editor of the Review of International Organizations. He is Co-Director of the Center for European Studies (CefES-DEMS), Faculty Associate of AidData, Fellow of CEPR, CESifo, KOF, and the European Development Network, as well as a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Most of his research is in the fields of political economy and economic development.