AidData

Date Published Sep 28, 2026 Authors Seth Goodman, Elena Serfilippi, Ariel BenYishay, Jacob Hall, José Antonio Mendoza Sánchez, Carlos de los Rios, Sylvia Cafat Publisher Citation Committee on Sustainability Assessment and AidData. 2026. Assessment of Deforestation Detection Solutions to Support EUDR Compliance in Honduras. Committee on Sustainability Assessment and AidData at William & Mary.

Date Published Sep 24, 2026 Authors Qiang (Steven) Wu Publisher Citation Wu, Qiang. Foreign Aid and Leadership Support in Informal International Institutions: Evidence from China–Africa Cooperation, 2000–2024. AidData Working Paper #145. Williamsburg, VA. AidData at William & Mary. Abstract How are foreign aid and international leadership support related among participating states, and how is such support associated with subsequent aid allocation?

Date Published Sep 24, 2026 Authors Qiang (Steven) Wu Publisher Citation Wu, Qiang. Foreign Aid and Leadership Support in Informal International Institutions: Evidence from China–Africa. AidData Working Paper #145. Williamsburg, VA. AidData at William & Mary. Abstract How are foreign aid and international leadership support related among participating states, and how is such support associated with subsequent aid allocation?

Skip to Content Date Published Sep 18, 2026 Authors Laura Metzger, Teddy Svoronos, Adnan Q. Khan Publisher Citation Metzger, L., Svoronos, T., and Khan, A. Reasoning through Quantitative Research Evidence: A Group Decision Experiment with Civil Servants in Pakistan. AidData Working Paper #143. Williamsburg, VA. AidData at William & Mary. Abstract We examine whether small-group deliberation enhances policymakers’ collective ability to reason through quantitative research evidence.

Project Summary Accelerating climate change and deepening food insecurity are intensifying pressures on livelihoods and threatening progress toward global development goals. Over the past five decades, Earth Observation (EO) technologies have expanded our ability to monitor agricultural systems, yet their full potential remains unrealized. A key constraint is the lack of harmonized, high-quality ground-based crop data that can be integrated with EO at field and crop-specific scales.

Date Published Sep 17, 2026 Authors Keyi Tang, Hong Zhang Publisher Citation Tang, K. and Hong, Z. (2026). Delegated Origination: Corporate Influence in Chinese Lending. AidData Working Paper #142. Williamsburg, VA: AidData at William & Mary. Abstract Sovereign lending is usually analyzed as a bargain between creditor and debtor states, taking creditors’ capacity to identify lending opportunities for granted.

The abrupt cuts to foreign aid in early 2025 were a shock to the system, forcing us to reimagine development data. Key data systems were immediately impacted: the world’s leading warning system for food insecurity, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), went down and funding for the foundational Demographic and Household Survey (DHS) was cut.

Simulation is a core feature of the AidData Training Initiative to equip current and future leaders with the toolkit to make real strategic decisions under pressure. It represents a way to move beyond presenting research findings by placing participants inside the institutional pressures, trade-offs, and evidence constraints that shape real policy decisions. This summer, AidData ran a three-hour simulation for a cohort of the Global Democracy Fellowship.

AidData's Tracking Underreported Financial Flows (TUFF) team is seeking Research Assistants (RAs) for Fall 2026. RAs will play a key role in assembling the world's most comprehensive dataset on Chinese official financial flows. Your work will assist policymakers at partner institutions to better understand the scale and scope of development and commercial finance from nontraditional donors.

The U.S. and China are engaged in long-term strategic competition across nearly every domain of power—yet preparing executive leaders for effective decision making in these arenas is extraordinarily difficult. Classroom instruction alone cannot replicate the pressure, ambiguity, and second-order consequences of real strategic decisions on trade policy, supply chains, alliances, and the use of military force.