Foreign Aid and Compliance with Public Health Orders: Evidence from Pakistan

• In Event: Political Economy of Globalization in South Asia

Abstract

The relevance of foreign aid to developing countries has been resoundingly upheld in the current pandemic; many countries, including Pakistan, have actively sought fiscal and technical support from their allies to enhance government response to the disease. However, a successful response depends on the cooperation of the public and their willingness to abide by public health orders, which depends at least partly on their assessment of government performance. This paper examines the direct and indirect effects of foreign aid on COVID-19 compliance; does information about foreign aid funding affect individuals' assessment of their own government and its ability to deal with the pandemic? Does it, as a cross-domain spillover, affect individuals' willingness to comply with public health orders? I ask these questions in the context of Pakistan where the roll out of a stimulus payment program, titled Ehsaas was a key component of the government's response to the pandemic. Using a survey experiment fielded via telephone, I find that informing individuals about the foreign aid funding source of the stimulus payment program does not affect individuals' support for it, which remains overwhelmingly high. In addition, individuals do not change their assessment of government performance in response to information about foreign aid; they do, however, believe that their government is more credible in the reporting of COVID-19 cases. Information of foreign aid also does not affect willingness to comply with public health orders. Finally, Ehsaas recipients offer higher approval of the program compared to non-recipients and are also more likely than non-recipients to comply with public health orders. This indicates that the program has some success in addressing the poor's vulnerability to the pandemic.

Author

• Syeda ShahBano Ijaz, UC San Diego