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The role of foreign aids and income inequality in poverty reduction: A sustainable development approach for Africa?

Author

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  • Rasheed O. Alao

    (University of Abuja
    Eastern Mediterranean University)

  • Andrew A. Alola

    (Istanbul Gelisim University
    University of Vaasa)

Abstract

In the last decades, international interventions mostly through foreign aids have consistently been directed toward sustainable development objectives such as reduction of poverty in African countries. Thus, this study investigates the effect of foreign aids and income inequality in poverty reduction in Africa for 1990–2016. The novelty lies in the investigation of the effectiveness of aid remittances to Africa from the United Nations and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which has previously been overlooked in extant studies. By using the system Generalized Method of Moments, the study showed that the interaction of inequality with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funds and OECD Official Development Assistance is not statistically significant. Meanwhile, the interventions from the UNDP funds and OECD Official Development Assistance statistically yield significant and expected results of reducing poverty in the poor continent. However, the study surprisingly failed to establish that remittances from the UNDP have significantly mitigated poverty in Africa. Importantly, this study presents a significant policy guide for the governments and the stakeholders and recommends that the donor agencies adopt poverty-reduction, and income distribution-based criteria for the allocation of their resources to reduce poverty in the continent.

Suggested Citation

  • Rasheed O. Alao & Andrew A. Alola, 2022. "The role of foreign aids and income inequality in poverty reduction: A sustainable development approach for Africa?," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 24(2), pages 456-469, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jsecdv:v:24:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s40847-022-00191-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s40847-022-00191-3
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kadir Aden & Sadik Aden Dirir, 2023. "Evaluating The Ad-Hoc Impact Of Fiscal Policy And Governance Quality In Attracting The Official Development Assistance: A Testimonial From East African Countries," Baltic Journal of Economic Studies, Publishing house "Baltija Publishing", vol. 4(1).
    3. Rasheed O. Alao & Abdulkareem Alhassan & Saheed Alao & Ifedolapo O. Olanipekun & Godwin O. Olasehinde-Williams & Ojonugwa Usman, 2023. "Symmetric and asymmetric GARCH estimations of the impact of oil price uncertainty on output growth: evidence from the G7," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Khairul Amri & Raja Masbar & B. S. Nazamuddin & Hasdi Aimon, 2024. "Does Unemployment Moderate the Effect of Government Expenditure on Poverty? A Cross-Provinces Data Evidence from Indonesia," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 92-113.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poverty; Income inequality; Foreign aids; Sustainable development; SDGs; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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