A mile wide and an inch deep: analyzing Europeans’ attitudes toward development aid by using a multilevel model

Abstract

Today, European countries actively promote Official Development Assistance (ODA) policy. A basic resource for promoting Development Aid (DA) policy is support from the public. However, there are very few systematic analyses about determinants of Europeans’ attitudes toward DA. Based on the survey data and the multilevel analysis, our study aims to examine how the independent variables i.e., life satisfaction, knowledge, awareness, policy efficacy, and trust at the individual level, and post-materialism, ideology, religiosity, and GDP per capita at the country level – influence the attitude toward DA, such as personal values toward development aid, willingness to pay (WTP), support for budgetary spending on DA, and support for DA as a policy priority. Our study shows that knowledge, policy efficacy, and trust at the individual level consistently influence the four attitudes. At the country level, right-wing ideology has a negative impact on support for budgetary spending on DA and support for DA as a policy priority. GDP per capita has a positive impact on WTP.

Keywords:

• Official development assistance
• development aid
• European’s attitude
• multi-level model