Authors
Alexandra L. Cermeño, Alessandra Quintigliano and Jacob Weisdorf
Abstract
The lands surrounding the historical homeland borders in Africa are notoriously linked to conflict and underdevelopment. With half of Africa currently living within 30 km of a homeland border, the borderlands are natural focal points for development aid. We assess the long-run effectiveness of aid in these regions, exploring one of the most widespread aid initiatives in Africa associated with colonial Christian missionary expansion. We examine how proximity to historical homeland borders conditions the positive link observed between colonial missionary activities and economic development today, captured by satellite night light. Based on a novel approach to measuring aid effectiveness, our spatial analyses establish that the outright aid effectiveness associated with missionary activities drops by 50% on average within 40 km from a homeland border and is statistically equal to zero within 15 km away compared to a plausibly neutral reference area.