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Which Donors, Which Funds? Bilateral Donors' Choice of Multilateral Funds at the World Bank

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  • Reinsberg, Bernhard
  • Michaelowa, Katharina
  • Knack, Stephen

Abstract

The rapid growth of trust funds at multilateral development organizations has been widely neglected in the academic literature. We examine sovereign donors' choices among various trust fund options and contend that the choice among the different trust funds involves a fundamental trade-off: larger funds provide donors with “burden-sharing” benefits, but each donor can better assert its individual preferences in a fund with fewer other donors. The theoretical considerations yield testable hypotheses on a range of factors affecting this fundamental trade-off, most notably the area of the trust fund's intervention and donor countries' competing domestic interests. A large-N analysis of participation decisions of OECD/DAC donors in trust funds over the past decade mostly corroborates these hypotheses. In particular, ex ante preference alignment among donors as well as indicators for global activities and fragile states aid are robust determinants of participation in (large) multi-donor funds. In contrast, a donor tends to prefer a single-donor fund in areas where its national interests dominate.

Suggested Citation

  • Reinsberg, Bernhard & Michaelowa, Katharina & Knack, Stephen, 2017. "Which Donors, Which Funds? Bilateral Donors' Choice of Multilateral Funds at the World Bank," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 71(4), pages 767-802, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:71:y:2017:i:04:p:767-802_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Vera Z. Eichenauer & Simon Hug, 2018. "The politics of special purpose trust funds," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 211-255, July.
    2. Balázs Szent-Iványi & Bernhard Reinsberg & Simon Lightfoot, 2019. "Small Donors in World Politics: The Role of Trust Funds in the Foreign Aid Policies of Central and Eastern European Donors," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(3), pages 663-683, July.
    3. Axel Dreher & Jenny Simon & Justin Valasek, 2021. "Optimal decision rules in multilateral aid funds," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 689-719, July.
    4. Philip Keefer & Christopher Kilby, 2021. "Introduction to the special issue: In memoriam Stephen Knack," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 473-493, July.
    5. Bernhard Reinsberg, 2017. "Xu, Jiajun. 2017. Beyond US Hegemony in International Development: The Contest for Influence at the World Bank. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 491-495, September.
    6. Bernhard Reinsberg & Oliver Westerwinter, 2021. "The global governance of international development: Documenting the rise of multi-stakeholder partnerships and identifying underlying theoretical explanations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 59-94, January.
    7. Weinlich, Silke & Baumann, Max-Otto & Lundsgaarde, Erik & Wolff, Peter, 2020. "Earmarking in the multilateral development system: Many shades of grey," IDOS Studies, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), volume 101, number 101, July.
    8. Dreher, Axel & Simon, Jenny & Valasek, Justin, 2018. "The Political Economy of Multilateral Aid Funds," CEPR Discussion Papers 13297, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Angelika J. Budjan & Andreas Fuchs, 2021. "Democracy and Aid Donorship," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 217-238, November.
    10. Oliver Westerwinter & Kenneth W. Abbott & Thomas Biersteker, 2021. "Informal governance in world politics," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 1-27, January.
    11. Heinzel, Mirko & Reinsberg, Bernhard, 2024. "Trust funds and the sub-national effectiveness of development aid: evidence from the World Bank," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122593, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Eugenia C. Heldt & Thomas Dörfler, 2022. "Orchestrating private investors for development: How the World Bank revitalizes," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), pages 1382-1398, October.
    13. Bernhard Reinsberg, 2019. "Do countries use foreign aid to buy geopolitical influence?: Evidence from donor campaigns for temporary UN Security Council seats," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-4, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Humphrey, Chris & Michaelowa, Katharina, 2019. "China in Africa: Competition for traditional development finance institutions?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 15-28.
    15. Bernhard Reinsberg & Christian Siauwijaya, 2024. "Does earmarked funding affect the performance of international organisations?," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 15(1), pages 23-39, February.
    16. Katharina Michaelowa, 2018. "Carola Betzold and Florian Weiler. 2018. Development Aid and Adaptation to Climate Change in Developing Countries (Cham, CH: Palgrave Macmillan)," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 621-625, December.
    17. Bernhard Reinsberg, 2019. "Do Countries Use Foreign Aid to Buy Geopolitical Influence? Evidence from Donor Campaigns for Temporary UN Security Council Seats," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(2), pages 127-154.
    18. Heinzel, Mirko & Reinsberg, Bernhard, 2024. "Trust funds and the sub-national effectiveness of development aid: Evidence from the World Bank," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    19. Katharina Michaelowa & Axel Michaelowa & Bernhard Reinsberg & Igor Shishlov, 2020. "Do Multilateral Development Bank Trust Funds Allocate Climate Finance Efficiently?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-19, July.

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