Aid and Integration: How Foreign Aid Impacts Social Globalization

Does foreign aid increase the spread of culture and information? Foreign aid, loans and grants a country receives from donor countries and institutions, influences the economic development of a country. However, this study explores the extent to which foreign aid impacts social globalization. Social globalization is the cultural and informational share of ideas which can be measured through internet access, international travel, and gender parity in a country. I propose that the use of foreign aid by a donor country will bring cultural and informational ideas to the recipient country, increasing social globalization for the recipient country. I use data from the World Bank and the KoF globalization index to test this theory. I expect to find that as foreign aid increases, social globalization increases as well. Foreign aid can connect people and ideas globally which is important for expanding knowledge and establishing trust between countries.