Does the provision of infrastructural projects attract criminal activities? Chinese aid and Crime in Ghana.

Abstract

The impacts of Chinese aid in Africa have been the focus of recent studies, suggesting a high probability of elite capture and political patronage. It should make residents in the projects' vicinities feel neglected since the intended benefits that may accrue from the projects are not likely to trickle down to them. The paper examines the impact of Chinese aid projects on criminal activity in Ghana. Using a geo-referenced dataset of sub-national allocation of Chinese projects geographically matched with 8,141 respondents of Afrobarometer surveys for Ghana, we implement a difference-in-difference identification strategy to capture the impact of living near the vicinity of ongoing projects at the time of the survey against those with no projects. The results suggest that living near ongoing projects makes residents prone to be burglarized or physically attacked. There is no equivalent pattern when considering projects financed by other donors.