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Modelling Aid Allocation: Issues, Approaches and Results

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  • Mark McGillivray

Abstract

There is a widespread view that political criteria have received less emphasis in aid allocation since the end of the cold war, with a greater share of aid subsequently being based on developmental criteria. An observed increase in aid effectiveness is attributed to this shift. A reasonably large literature on aid allocation supports this view: a number of influential, widely cited studies conclude that developmental criteria played no role in the 1970s and 1980s inter-recipient aid allocation. This paper argues that the shift is not as significant as commonly thought.

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  • Mark McGillivray, 2003. "Modelling Aid Allocation: Issues, Approaches and Results," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2003-49, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:dp2003-49
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    Cited by:

    1. Balla, Eliana & Reinhardt, Gina Yannitell, 2008. "Giving and Receiving Foreign Aid: Does Conflict Count?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2566-2585, December.
    2. Jane Harrigan, 2011. "The Political Economy of Aid Flows to North Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2011-072, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Balázs Szent-Iványi, 2015. "Are Democratising Countries Rewarded with Higher Levels of Foreign Aid?," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 65(4), pages 593-615, December.
    4. Udvari, Beáta & Dávid Kiss, Gábor & Pontet, Julianna, 2016. "Challenges of Missing Data in Analyses of Aid Activity: The Case of US Aid Activity," Bangladesh Development Studies, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), vol. 39(1-2), pages 1-25, March-Jun.
    5. Eric Neumayer, 2005. "Is the Allocation of Food Aid Free from Donor Interest Bias?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 394-411.
    6. Clist, Paul, 2011. "25Years of Aid Allocation Practice: Whither Selectivity?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1724-1734.
    7. Dollar, David & Levin, Victoria, 2006. "The Increasing Selectivity of Foreign Aid, 1984-2003," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2034-2046, December.
    8. Paul Clist, 2009. "25 Years of Aid Allocation Practice: Comparing Donors and Eras," Discussion Papers 09/11, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    9. Youngwan Kim & Sang-Hwan Lee & Young Jun Cho, 2023. "Donor motivation in the era of the COVID-19 crisis: Focusing on South Korean health diplomacy and response aid to COVID-19," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 26(1), pages 71-86, March.
    10. Barthel, Fabian & Neumayer, Eric & Nunnenkamp, Peter & Selaya, Pablo, 2014. "Competition for Export Markets and the Allocation of Foreign Aid: The Role of Spatial Dependence among Donor Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 350-365.
    11. Aurore Gary & Mathilde Maurel, 2015. "Donors’ Policy Consistency and Economic Growth," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(4), pages 511-551, November.
    12. Roland Kangni KPODAR & Maëlan LE GOFF, 2012. "Do Remittances Reduce Aid Dependency?," Working Papers P34, FERDI.
    13. Cogneau, Denis & Naudet, Jean-David, 2007. "Who Deserves Aid? Equality of Opportunity, International Aid, and Poverty Reduction," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 104-120, January.
    14. Jaromír Harmáček & Miroslav Syrovátka & Zdeněk Opršal, 2017. "Analýza faktorů selekce a alokace české rozvojové pomoci s využitím panelových dat a metod Probit a Tobit [Factors of Czech Aid Selection and Allocation: Panel Probit and Tobit Analysis]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2017(2), pages 179-197.
    15. Czaika, Mathias & Mayer, Amy, 2007. "Burden-sharing or migration management?," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Göttingen 2007 3, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    16. Harrigan, Jane & Wang, Chengang, 2011. "A New Approach to the Allocation of Aid Among Developing Countries: Is the USA Different from the Rest?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1281-1293, August.
    17. Abrams M E Tagem, 2017. "Analysing the determinants of health aid allocation in sub-Saharan Africa," Discussion Papers 2017-09, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    18. Fumitaka Furuoka, 2017. "Determinants of China's and Japan's Foreign Aid Allocations in Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 376-388, September.
    19. Marlène Guillon & Jacky Mathonnat, 2019. "What can we learn on Chinese aid allocation motivations from available data ? A sectorial analysis of Chinese aid to African countries," Post-Print hal-02005784, HAL.
    20. Kafayat Amusa & Nara Monkam & Nicola Viegi, 2016. "The Political and Economic Dynamics of Foreign Aid: A Case Study of United States and Chinese Aid to Sub-Sahara Africa," Working Papers 201628, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    21. Muhammad Azam & Yi Feng, 2022. "Does foreign aid stimulate economic growth in developing countries? Further evidence in both aggregate and disaggregated samples," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 533-556, April.
    22. Michael Mitchell Omoruyi Ehizuelen & Meibo Huang, 2016. "Fostering Economic Development: Is External Finance Responsible for the Poor Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa?," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 313-347, June.
    23. Guillon, Marlène & Mathonnat, Jacky, 2020. "What can we learn on Chinese aid allocation motivations from available data? A sectorial analysis of Chinese aid to African countries," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic assistance and foreign aid; Economic development; Econometric models (Economic development); Regression analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems
    • C24 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Truncated and Censored Models; Switching Regression Models; Threshold Regression Models
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • C12 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Hypothesis Testing: General
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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