The Trump administration’s decision to halt and review U.S. foreign assistance to developing countries instantaneously turned the United States from many countries’ biggest helper into their biggest problem. In the process, he kicked off a massive experiment.

The research question is something like “What constitutes U.S. international influence?” In other words, does the United States’s leadership especially in the developing world depend on hard power, be it sanctions, tariffs, or military might? How much of the global buy-in to this leadership depends on the U.S.’s support for health, education and development?