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Measuring the efficiency of humanitarian aid

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  • Alda, Erik
  • Cuesta, Jose

Abstract

We do not know the extent to which billions of dollars in aid can save lives or prevent forced displacement globally. We propose the adaption of data envelopment analysis (DEA), a well-known nonparametric organizational performance method, to fill this critical gap in humanitarian assistance. Applying this new technique to 106 countries receiving aid between 2010 and 2016, we show that countries could improve their aid efficiency by an average of between 20 percent and 50 percent with respect to best performers. This tailored methodology, Humanitarian DEA, can be applied to monitor the efficiency of aid nationally and globally every year.

Suggested Citation

  • Alda, Erik & Cuesta, Jose, 2019. "Measuring the efficiency of humanitarian aid," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:183:y:2019:i:c:19
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2019.108618
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jyotsna Puri & Anastasia Aladysheva & Vegard Iversen & Yashodhan Ghorpade & Tilman Brück, 2017. "Can rigorous impact evaluations improve humanitarian assistance?," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 519-542, October.
    2. Afsharian, Mohsen, 2017. "Metafrontier efficiency analysis with convex and non-convex metatechnologies by stochastic nonparametric envelopment of data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 1-3.
    3. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    4. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Kokkelenberg, Edward C, 1989. "Measuring Plant Capacity, Utilization and Technical Change: A Nonparametric Approach," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 30(3), pages 655-666, August.
    5. Rachel Scott, 2014. "Imagining More Effective Humanitarian Aid: A Donor Perspective," OECD Development Co-operation Working Papers 18, OECD Publishing.
    6. Hannah Tappis & Shannon Doocy, 2018. "The effectiveness and value for money of cash-based humanitarian assistance: a systematic review," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 121-144, January.
    7. Honaker, James & King, Gary & Blackwell, Matthew, 2011. "Amelia II: A Program for Missing Data," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 45(i07).
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    Cited by:

    1. Geri L. Dimas & Malak El Khalkhali & Alex Bender & Kayse Lee Maass & Renata A. Konrad & Jeffrey S. Blom & Joe Zhu & Andrew C. Trapp, 2023. "Estimating Effectiveness of Identifying Human Trafficking via Data Envelopment Analysis," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 53(6), pages 408-424, November.
    2. Sena Kimm Gnangnon, 2023. "Duration of the Membership in the GATT/WTO, Structural Economic Vulnerability and Trade Costs," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-32, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Efficiency; Aid; Emergencies; Impacts; Data envelopment analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • P47 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Performance and Prospects
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis

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