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Inertia and Herding in Humanitarian Aid Decisions

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  • David Fielding

    (Department of Economics, University of Otago)

Abstract

Using panel data for the period 1995-2008, we model the aid allocation decisions of the three largest official donors of humanitarian aid: the United States government, the United Kingdom government and the European Commission. We find evidence that donor decisions depend on both the recipientÕs need and the donorÕs economic interest, but with marked asymmetries in the relative importance of different factors across the three donors. Moreover, some donors exhibit much more inertia than others in responding to new areas of need, and some are much more influenced by the decisions of other donors. Despite being a relatively small donor, the United Kingdom is particularly influential.

Suggested Citation

  • David Fielding, 2010. "Inertia and Herding in Humanitarian Aid Decisions," Working Papers 1009, University of Otago, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2010.
    • Handle: RePEc:otg:wpaper:1009
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    File URL: http://www.otago.ac.nz/economics/research/otago077136.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2010
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Mohamed Mounir Sraieb, 2015. "An Empirical Model for U.S. Foreign Aid Allocation," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2015-48, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Abrams M E Tagem, 2017. "Analysing the determinants of health aid allocation in sub-Saharan Africa," Discussion Papers 2017-09, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Humanitarian aid; Dynamic panel model;

    JEL classification:

    • H59 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Other
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations

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