ECIN Replication Package for "Development Aid and Urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa"

In recent years, aid from conventional donors has aimed to relieve urban pressure in African countries via an increased degree of rural targeting. We explore whether official development assistance contributed to changes in urbanization rates in Sub-Saharan Africa in the period from 1990 to 2018. The findings from panel fixed effects and instrumental variable estimations demonstrate a negative link between development aid and national urbanization rates. Placebo tests indicate this is due to the explicit rural and subsistence focus in aid allocation priorities, and a mechanism analysis suggests the results stem from a reduction in the urban-rural living standards differential.