Ideology, financial circumstances, and attitudes toward public and private foreign aid

Abstract

Does ideology influence voter preferences for foreign aid in the same way it does for domestic redistribution? Economically vulnerable left-leaning citizens, who are normatively strong proponents of government aid, may not be as committed to increasing actual spending. Such citizens may see themselves as competing with the foreign poor for domestic resources. Similarly, while affluent right-leaning citizens may oppose increasing foreign aid due to skepticism about government spending, this might not extend to private donations. Instead, they may view non-governmental organizations and charities as alternatives that leverage private expertise to assist poor countries. Using four years of public opinion data from 15 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development donor countries, I find support for the conditional effect of ideology and economic self-interest on both public and private aid attitudes. By focusing on three different measures—the morality of aid, public aid spending, and private donations—I further explore variations in aid attitudes.