Foreign Aid and Female Empowerment

Figures & data

Table 1. Impact on women’s status indices, all aid

	Panel A: Unconditional
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Exposure	–0.026***	–0.062***	–0.009	0.014	–0.035***
	(0.005)	(0.020)	(0.007)	(0.009)	(0.007)
After	–0.177***	0.384***	0.058***	0.046***	0.094***
	(0.006)	(0.023)	(0.008)	(0.009)	(0.008)
After:Exposure	0.010	0.098***	0.018**	–0.0003	0.047***
	(0.007)	(0.026)	(0.009)	(0.011)	(0.009)
Observations	37,817	22,912	34,131	8,664	22,912
R^2	0.091	0.075	0.012	0.013	0.051
	Panel B: Conditional
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Exposure	–0.011	–0.044	–0.017**	0.009	–0.025**
	(0.011)	(0.032)	(0.007)	(0.012)	(0.012)
After	–0.193***	0.394***	0.047***	0.031*	0.090***
	(0.011)	(0.033)	(0.008)	(0.017)	(0.012)
After:Exposure	0.006	0.072*	0.022**	–0.005	0.036***
	(0.013)	(0.037)	(0.009)	(0.013)	(0.014)
Observations	36,101	21,706	32,536	8,590	21,706
R^2	0.142	0.107	0.069	0.071	0.088
Mean	0.036	0.59	0.199	0.719	0.114
sd	0.324	1.007	0.293	0.204	0.343

Note: *p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Exposure is measured within a 10 km radius. HS is the Haushofer and Shapiro (2016) empowerment index, JBC is the Jayachandran et al. (2023) agency index, WA and MA are indices of women’s and men’s attitudes in the sexual and reproductive sphere, Index is the aggregate of the previous four. Conditional results control for household size, respondent’s age and ethnicity, indicators for Muslim faith and literacy, and years of education. We also control for a geographic FE and the number of aid projects at the district level. Standard errors clustered at the DHS cluster level in parentheses.

Table 2. Impact on women’s status indices, gender aid

	Panel A: Unconditional
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Exposure	–0.034***	–0.003	–0.013**	0.010	–0.020***
	(0.005)	(0.018)	(0.006)	(0.008)	(0.006)
After	–0.190***	0.419***	0.066***	0.048***	0.105***
	(0.004)	(0.016)	(0.005)	(0.007)	(0.006)
After:Exposure	0.023***	0.050**	0.007	–0.004	0.029***
	(0.006)	(0.023)	(0.008)	(0.009)	(0.008)
Observations	37,817	22,912	34,131	8,664	22,912
R^2	0.093	0.076	0.013	0.015	0.054
	Panel B: Conditional
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Exposure	–0.013	0.008	–0.018**	0.015	–0.007
	(0.009)	(0.028)	(0.007)	(0.010)	(0.011)
After	–0.203***	0.427***	0.054***	0.028*	0.100***
	(0.008)	(0.024)	(0.006)	(0.015)	(0.009)
After:Exposure	0.018*	0.026	0.014*	–0.010	0.020*
	(0.010)	(0.032)	(0.009)	(0.011)	(0.012)
Observations	36,101	21,706	32,536	8,590	21,706
R^2	0.142	0.107	0.069	0.072	0.090
Mean	0.036	0.59	0.199	0.719	0.114
sd	0.324	1.007	0.293	0.204	0.343

Note: *p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Exposure is measured within a 10 km radius. HS is the Haushofer and Shapiro (2016) empowerment index, JBC is the Jayachandran et al. (2023) agency index, WA and MA are indices of women’s and men’s attitudes in the sexual and reproductive sphere, Index is the aggregate of the previous four. Conditional results control for household size, respondent’s age and ethnicity, indicators for Muslim faith and literacy, and years of education. We also control for a geographic FE, the number of aid projects at the district level, and an indicator for general aid within the radius. Standard errors clustered at the DHS cluster level in parentheses.

Table 3. Extended results

	Panel A: All aid
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Baseline	0.006	0.072*	0.022**	–0.005	0.036***
	(0.013)	(0.037)	(0.009)	(0.013)	(0.014)
20 km	0.058*	0.230**	–0.006	–0.023	0.105**
	(0.034)	(0.100)	(0.026)	(0.039)	(0.042)
5 years	0.005	0.057	0.026***	–0.001	0.032**
	(0.012)	(0.035)	(0.009)	(0.012)	(0.013)
PrCount	0.002**	0.003	0.001	0.0004	0.003**
	(0.001)	(0.003)	(0.001)	(0.001)	(0.001)
Observations	36,101	21,706	32,536	8,590	21,706
InterFE	–0.003	0.064*	0.018*		0.030**
	(0.012)	(0.035)	(0.009)		(0.013)
Observations	30,153	21,706	28,715	2,655	21,706
	Panel B: Gender aid
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Baseline	0.018*	0.026	0.014*	–0.010	0.020*
	(0.010)	(0.032)	(0.009)	(0.011)	(0.012)
20 km	0.014	0.079*	0.018*	–0.009	0.040***
	(0.014)	(0.042)	(0.010)	(0.014)	(0.015)
5 years	0.017*	0.033	0.013	–0.011	0.022*
	(0.010)	(0.033)	(0.009)	(0.011)	(0.012)
PrCount	0.005*	0.012	0.003	0.0004	0.007*
	(0.003)	(0.010)	(0.003)	(0.003)	(0.004)
Observations	36,101	21,706	32,536	8,590	21,706
InterFE	0.001	–0.006	0.011		0.002
	(0.010)	(0.032)	(0.009)		(0.012)
Observations	30,153	21,706	28,715	2,655	21,706
Mean	0.036	0.59	0.199	0.719	0.114
sd	0.324	1.007	0.293	0.204	0.343

Note: *p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Each row reports the coefficient for After:Exposure from a different robustness setting. Baseline reports for comparison the results from Table 1 and Table 2. 20 km defines exposure within a radius of 20 km rather than 10 km as in baseline. 5 years only considers projects started within a 5 year interval from the survey. PrCount uses the number of aid projects rather than the indicator. InterFE adds district fixed effects interacted with the After indicator. Each column reports the model with a different index as dependent variable. HS is the Haushofer and Shapiro (2016) empowerment index, JBC is the Jayachandran et al. (2023) agency index, WA and MA are indices of women’s and men’s attitudes in the sexual and reproductive sphere, Index is the aggregate of the previous four. Conditional results control for household size, respondent’s age and ethnicity, indicators for Muslim faith and literacy, and years of education. We also control for a geographic FE, the number of aid projects at the district level, and an indicator for general aid within the radius in panel B. Standard errors clustered at the DHS cluster level in parentheses.

Table 4. Impact in matrilineal areas

	Panel A: All aid
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Baseline	0.006	0.072*	0.022**	–0.005	0.036***
	(0.013)	(0.037)	(0.009)	(0.013)	(0.014)
Exposure	–0.010	–0.053	–0.018**	–0.005	–0.029**
	(0.013)	(0.036)	(0.009)	(0.013)	(0.013)
After	–0.209***	0.444***	0.037***	0.010	0.098***
	(0.013)	(0.037)	(0.010)	(0.019)	(0.014)
After:Exposure	0.011	0.059	0.020*	0.009	0.034**
	(0.014)	(0.041)	(0.011)	(0.015)	(0.015)
Observations	26,407	15,950	24,051	6,089	15,950
R^2	0.153	0.117	0.069	0.072	0.101
	Panel B: Gender aid
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Baseline	0.018*	0.026	0.014*	–0.010	0.020*
	(0.010)	(0.032)	(0.009)	(0.011)	(0.012)
Exposure	–0.003	–0.016	–0.023***	–0.013	–0.013
	(0.010)	(0.033)	(0.008)	(0.011)	(0.012)
After	–0.214***	0.472***	0.036***	0.015	0.107***
	(0.009)	(0.026)	(0.007)	(0.017)	(0.010)
After:Exposure	0.012	0.039	0.025**	0.009	0.026**
	(0.011)	(0.035)	(0.010)	(0.012)	(0.013)
Observations	26,407	15,950	24,051	6,089	15,950
R^2	0.154	0.117	0.069	0.073	0.102
Mean	0.036	0.59	0.199	0.686	0.114
sd	0.323	1.014	0.3	0.2	0.345

Note: *p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Exposure is measured within a 10 km radius. Ethnic groups classified as matrilineal are: Chewa, Lomwe, Yao, Ngoni, and Nyanja, based on Ibik (1970). HS is the Haushofer and Shapiro (2016) empowerment index, JBC is the Jayachandran et al. (2023) agency index, WA and MA are indices of women’s and men’s attitudes in the sexual and reproductive sphere, Index is the aggregate of the previous four. Conditional results control for household size, respondent’s age and ethnicity, indicators for Muslim faith and literacy, and years of education. We also control for a geographic FE, the number of aid projects at the district level, and an indicator for general aid within the radius in panel B. Standard errors clustered at the DHS cluster level in parentheses.

Table 5. Impact in patrilineal areas

	Panel A: All aid
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Baseline	0.006	0.072*	0.022**	–0.005	0.036***
	(0.013)	(0.037)	(0.009)	(0.013)	(0.014)
Exposure	–0.021	0.027	–0.007	0.054**	0.003
	(0.024)	(0.063)	(0.013)	(0.021)	(0.024)
After	–0.160***	0.316***	0.084***	0.106***	0.086***
	(0.023)	(0.065)	(0.013)	(0.037)	(0.025)
After:Exposure	0.007	0.041	0.023	–0.050**	0.023
	(0.025)	(0.071)	(0.015)	(0.023)	(0.027)
Observations	9,694	5,756	8,485	2,501	5,756
R^2	0.112	0.093	0.081	0.090	0.072
	Panel B: Gender aid
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Baseline	0.018*	0.026	0.014*	–0.010	0.020*
	(0.010)	(0.032)	(0.009)	(0.011)	(0.012)
Exposure	–0.046**	0.108**	–0.002	0.075***	0.021
	(0.020)	(0.050)	(0.013)	(0.023)	(0.019)
After	–0.177***	0.328***	0.094***	0.068*	0.081***
	(0.016)	(0.047)	(0.011)	(0.035)	(0.018)
After:Exposure	0.031	–0.046	–0.009	–0.047*	–0.006
	(0.022)	(0.065)	(0.016)	(0.025)	(0.024)
Observations	9,694	5,756	8,485	2,501	5,756
R^2	0.114	0.096	0.081	0.097	0.075
Mean	0.054	0.59	0.188	0.719	0.112
sd	0.327	0.983	0.273	0.214	0.338

Note: *p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Exposure is measured within a 10 km radius. Ethnic groups classified as matrilineal are: Chewa, Lomwe, Yao, Ngoni, and Nyanja, based on Ibik (1970). HS is the Haushofer and Shapiro (2016) empowerment index, JBC is the Jayachandran et al. (2023) agency index, WA and MA are indices of women’s and men’s attitudes in the sexual and reproductive sphere, Index is the aggregate of the previous four. Conditional results control for household size, respondent’s age and ethnicity, indicators for Muslim faith and literacy, and years of education. We also control for a geographic FE, the number of aid projects at the district level, and an indicator for general aid within the radius in panel B. Standard errors clustered at the DHS cluster level in parentheses.

Figure 1. Intensity of matrilineal tenure.

Notes: The figure plots the geographic distribution of our matrilineal indicator. We base our definition of matrilineal societies on the ethnic identification of individual respondents. Therefore the intensity at the cluster level varies between 0 and 1 representing the share of respondents that identify themselves as belonging to one of the ethnic groups classified as matrilineal.

Figure 2. Map of aid projects and survey waves.

Notes: The figure plots the geographic distribution of aid projects and of household clusters in the two DHS waves. The color of the project dot reflects whether the project has or not a specific gender-targeting, while the shape of the household dot reflects the survey wave.

Table A1. Normalized differences, pre-treatment

	Mean T	sd T	Mean C	sd C	Nor Dif
HhdSize	5.30	2.43	5.46	2.52	−0.07
Age	28.11	9.42	28.26	9.56	−0.02
Muslim	0.04	0.48	0.08	0.56	−0.07
Matrilineal	0.75	0.43	0.77	0.42	−0.03
NProjects	9.11	13.97	0.00	0.00	0.92
YearsEdu	4.87	3.69	4.27	3.36	0.17
Literacy	0.58	0.49	0.52	0.50	0.12
OK2BeatWife	0.25	0.43	0.32	0.47	−0.16
HS	0.13	0.33	0.17	0.33	−0.11
JBC	−0.29	1.02	−0.21	0.99	−0.08
WA	0.14	0.29	0.14	0.29	−0.01
MA	0.66	0.20	0.64	0.21	0.10
Empowerment (Index)	0.14	0.23	0.14	0.23	0.01

Table A2. Normalized differences - treatment groups

	Mean 2010	sd 2010	Mean 2004	sd 2004	Nor Dif
HhdSize	5.67	2.43	5.30	2.43	0.15
Age	28.36	9.72	28.11	9.42	0.03
Muslim	0.03	0.17	0.04	0.48	−0.03
Matrilineal	0.74	0.44	0.75	0.43	−0.04
NProjects	8.87	16.21	9.11	13.97	−0.02
YearsEdu	5.60	3.56	4.87	3.69	0.20
Literacy	0.63	0.48	0.58	0.49	0.10
OK2BeatWife	0.12	0.33	0.25	0.43	−0.34
HS	−0.03	0.20	0.13	0.33	−0.59
JBC	0.20	0.62	−0.29	1.02	0.59
WA	0.22	0.33	0.14	0.29	0.25
MA	0.70	0.18	0.66	0.20	0.24
Empowerment (Index)	0.18	0.20	0.14	0.23	0.15

Table A3. Normalized differences - control groups

	Mean 2010	sd 2010	Mean 2004	sd 2004	Nor Dif
HhdSize	5.76	2.40	5.46	2.52	0.12
Age	28.64	9.86	28.26	9.56	0.04
Muslim	0.02	0.15	0.08	0.56	−0.14
Matrilineal	0.63	0.48	0.77	0.42	−0.30
YearsEdu	5.08	3.28	4.27	3.36	0.24
Literacy	0.57	0.50	0.52	0.50	0.09
OK2BeatWife	0.15	0.36	0.32	0.47	−0.41
HS	−0.01	0.22	0.17	0.33	−0.62
JBC	0.18	0.64	−0.21	0.99	0.47
WA	0.20	0.32	0.14	0.29	0.19
MA	0.68	0.18	0.64	0.21	0.24
Empowerment (Index)	0.17	0.20	0.14	0.23	0.12

Table A4. Pre-trends

	Panel A: All aid
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Exposure	0.003	–0.007	–0.012	0.004	–0.010
	(0.022)	(0.026)	(0.009)	(0.004)	(0.009)
After	–0.097***	0.067**	–0.003	0.030***	–0.003
	(0.029)	(0.031)	(0.010)	(0.006)	(0.010)
After:Exposure	–0.026	–0.037	–0.003	–0.003	–0.016
	(0.032)	(0.036)	(0.011)	(0.006)	(0.012)
Observations	25,058	19,838	25,058	25,058	19,838
R^2	0.041	0.078	0.042	0.051	0.060
	Panel B: Gender aid
	HS	JBC	WA	MA	Index
Exposure	0.005	–0.014	–0.001	0.007*	–0.004
	(0.023)	(0.025)	(0.008)	(0.004)	(0.008)
After	–0.085***	0.036	0.002	0.029***	–0.005
	(0.020)	(0.022)	(0.007)	(0.004)	(0.007)
After:Exposure	–0.037	–0.0003	–0.011	–0.002	–0.015
	(0.028)	(0.032)	(0.010)	(0.006)	(0.010)
Observations	25,058	19,838	25,058	25,058	19,838
R^2	0.041	0.079	0.042	0.051	0.061
Mean	−0.04	0.04	0.281	0.081	0.129
sd	0.679	0.895	0.333	0.234	0.282

Notes: *p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Exposure is measured in relation to projects implemented after 2004, within a 10 km radius. HS is the Haushofer and Shapiro (2016) empowerment index, JBC is the Jayachandran et al. (2023) agency index, WA and MA are indices of women’s and men’s attitudes in the sexual and reproductive sphere, Index is the aggregate of the previous four. Conditional results control for household size, respondent’s age and ethnicity, indicators for Muslim faith and literacy, and years of education, all at the household level. We also control for a geographic FE, the number of aid projects at the district level, and an indicator for general aid within the radius in panel B. Standard errors clustered at the DHS cluster level in parentheses.

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Data availability statement

Datasets generated for and analyzed in the current study are available at the Dataverse Project repository, https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/KTLSQT.