Who Gets the Goodies? Overlapping Interests and the Geography of Aid for Trade Allocation in Bangladesh

The Sustainable Development Goal principle of “leaving no one behind” has led to increased attention being paid patterns intra-country allocation foreign aid. We contribute these efforts by considering a particular type aid, Aid for Trade (AfT), discern objectives match novel, geo-coded, dataset on over 11,000 Bangladeshi exporting firms thousand AfT project locations in Bangladesh similarly geo-coded AidData and expanded ourselves. use this matched data employ spatial techniques that evaluate political economy logics aid allocation, wherein is functionally targeted towards firms, allocated based prebendalism, and/or directed high poverty areas. Our analysis finds support functional or prebendalist logics. results are more nuanced. When considered stand-alone fashion, associated with smaller likelihood allocation. However, some evidence suggests when the other present, impact becomes positive. These findings suggest politics nuanced intricate dance multiple overlapping competing