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Losing concentration? Lessons from a Swedish aid policy reform

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  • Rune Jansen Hagen

Abstract

Sweden is one of the donor countries that signed up for the Paris Agenda, which among other things advocated reducing aid dispersion. It also adopted its own geographical concentration policy in 2007. My empirical analysis shows that Sweden managed to achieve this goal only for two years following the reform and that this was followed by backsliding. Moreover, its current aid policy framework barely mentions the topic. I argue that a major reason was the failure to institutionalize the policy. This left it vulnerable to the regular politics of aid, which tend to generate both geographic and thematic spread. Reduced peer pressure, as the international community has moved away from the Paris Agenda, might also have contributed.

Suggested Citation

  • Rune Jansen Hagen, 2018. "Losing concentration? Lessons from a Swedish aid policy reform," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S2), pages 984-1003, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devpol:v:36:y:2018:i:s2:p:o984-o1003
    DOI: 10.1111/dpr.12300
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations

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