IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/globdv/v11y2020i1p35n2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Foreign Aid and Adolescent Fertility Rate: Cross-Country Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Zhuang Hong

    (Judd Leighton School of Business and Economics, Indiana University South Bend, 1700 Mishawaka Ave., South Bend, IN 46634, USA)

  • Wang Miao
  • Daniels Joseph

    (Economics Department Marquette University, PO Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881, USA)

Abstract

This study examines the role of official development assistance (ODA) in affecting adolescent fertility rates in low- and middle-income countries. Approximately 95% of adolescent births occur in middle- and low-income countries, and the average adolescent fertility rate in low-income countries is five times higher than in high-income countries. Aid donors typically pursue multiple objectives when providing development aid, many of which can go beyond changes in per capita GDP and include human capital factors such as adolescent fertility and infant mortality. Using data over the period from 1995 to 2015, our results suggest that total ODA has a beneficial impact by lowering the adolescent fertility rate either directly or through the channel of income growth. Our results also show that this beneficial effect on the adolescent fertility rate is stronger in low-income countries than in middle-income countries. Findings based on sectoral aid suggest that health aid has a stronger effect than aid in other sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhuang Hong & Wang Miao & Daniels Joseph, 2020. "Foreign Aid and Adolescent Fertility Rate: Cross-Country Evidence," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-35, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:globdv:v:11:y:2020:i:1:p:35:n:2
    DOI: 10.1515/jgd-2018-0051
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/jgd-2018-0051
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/jgd-2018-0051?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Axel Dreher & Peter Nunnenkamp & Rainer Thiele, 2008. "Does Aid for Education Educate Children? Evidence from Panel Data," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 22(2), pages 291-314, April.
    2. Esther Duflo & Pascaline Dupas & Michael Kremer, 2015. "Education, HIV, and Early Fertility: Experimental Evidence from Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(9), pages 2757-2797, September.
    3. van de Walle, Dominique & Mu, Ren, 2007. "Fungibility and the flypaper effect of project aid: Micro-evidence for Vietnam," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 667-685, November.
    4. Becker, Gary S & Tomes, Nigel, 1976. "Child Endowments and the Quantity and Quality of Children," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages 143-162, August.
    5. Minasyan, Anna & Nunnenkamp, Peter & Richert, Katharina, 2017. "Does Aid Effectiveness Depend on the Quality of Donors?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 16-30.
    6. Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2012. "Do Institutions And Social Cohesion Enhance The Effectiveness Of Aid? New Evidence From Africa," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(01), pages 1-19.
    7. David Locke Newhouse & Ms. Prachi Mishra, 2007. "Health Aid and Infant Mortality," IMF Working Papers 2007/100, International Monetary Fund.
    8. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Parfait M. Eloundou-Enyegue & C. Shannon Stokes, 2004. "Teen Fertility and Gender Inequality in Education," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 11(11), pages 305-334.
    10. Wagstaff, Adam, 2011. "Fungibility and the impact of development assistance: Evidence from Vietnam's health sector," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 62-73, January.
    11. Alam, Andaleeb & Baez, Javier E. & V. Del Carpio, Ximena, 2011. "Does cash for school influence young women's behavior in the longer term ? evidence from Pakistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5669, The World Bank.
    12. Chatterjee Santanu & Giuliano Paola & Kaya Ilker, 2012. "Where Has All the Money Gone? Foreign Aid and the Composition of Government Spending," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-36, August.
    13. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2007. "Enhanced routines for instrumental variables/GMM estimation and testing," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 667, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 05 Sep 2007.
    14. Nicolas Van de Sijpe, 2013. "Is Foreign Aid Fungible? Evidence from the Education and Health Sectors," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 27(2), pages 320-356.
    15. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413.
    16. repec:bpj:bejmac:v:12:y:2012:i:1:n:26 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Birdsall, Nancy, 1988. "Economic approaches to population growth," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 477-542, Elsevier.
    18. Marco Dueñas & Giorgio Fagiolo, 2013. "Modeling the International-Trade Network: a gravity approach," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 8(1), pages 155-178, April.
    19. repec:dau:papers:123456789/11393 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Tseday Jemaneh Mekasha & Finn Tarp, 2013. "Aid and Growth: What Meta-Analysis Reveals," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(4), pages 564-583, April.
    21. Robyn Swift, 2011. "The relationship between health and GDP in OECD countries in the very long run," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(3), pages 306-322, March.
    22. Giulia Mascagni & Emilija Timmis, 2017. "The Fiscal Effects of Aid in Ethiopia: Evidence from CVAR Applications," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(7), pages 1037-1056, July.
    23. Arndt, Channing & Jones, Sam & Tarp, Finn, 2015. "Assessing Foreign Aid’s Long-Run Contribution to Growth and Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 6-18.
    24. Raghuram G. Rajan & Arvind Subramanian, 2008. "Aid and Growth: What Does the Cross-Country Evidence Really Show?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(4), pages 643-665, November.
    25. Lisa Chauvet & Flore Gubert & Sandrine Mespl�-Somps, 2013. "Aid, Remittances, Medical Brain Drain and Child Mortality: Evidence Using Inter and Intra-Country Data," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(6), pages 801-818, June.
    26. Sarah Baird & Ephraim Chirwa & Craig McIntosh & Berk Özler, 2010. "The short‐term impacts of a schooling conditional cash transfer program on the sexual behavior of young women," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(S1), pages 55-68, September.
    27. Kim, Kwangkee & Moody, Philip M., 1992. "More resources better health? A cross-national perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 837-842, April.
    28. Felicitas Nowak‐Lehmann & Axel Dreher & Dierk Herzer & Stephan Klasen & Inmaculada Martínez‐Zarzoso, 2012. "Does foreign aid really raise per capita income? A time series perspective," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(1), pages 288-313, February.
    29. Handa, Sudhanshu & Peterman, Amber & Huang, Carolyn & Halpern, Carolyn & Pettifor, Audrey & Thirumurthy, Harsha, 2015. "Impact of the Kenya Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children on early pregnancy and marriage of adolescent girls," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 36-45.
    30. Chaaban, Jad & Cunningham, Wendy, 2011. "Measuring the economic gain of investing in girls : the girl effect dividend," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5753, The World Bank.
    31. William Easterly, 2003. "Can Foreign Aid Buy Growth?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 23-48, Summer.
    32. McGuire, James W., 2006. "Basic health care provision and under-5 mortality: A Cross-National study of developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 405-425, March.
    33. Gary S. Becker, 1960. "An Economic Analysis of Fertility," NBER Chapters, in: Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries, pages 209-240, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    34. Sophia C. Terrelonge, 2014. "For Health, Strength, and Daily Food: The Dual Impact of Remittances and Public Health Expenditure on Household Health Spending and Child Health Outcomes," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1397-1410, November.
    35. Herzer, Dierk & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2012. "The effect of foreign aid on income inequality: Evidence from panel cointegration," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 245-255.
    36. Melissa S. Kearney & Phillip B. Levine, 2014. "Income Inequality and Early Nonmarital Childbearing," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 49(1), pages 1-31.
    37. Torsheim, Torbjorn & Currie, Candace & Boyce, William & Kalnins, Ilze & Overpeck, Mary & Haugland, Siren, 2004. "Material deprivation and self-rated health: a multilevel study of adolescents from 22 European and North American countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 1-12, July.
    38. Jonas Dovern & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2007. "Aid and Growth Accelerations: An Alternative Approach to Assessing the Effectiveness of Aid," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 359-383, August.
    39. Morrissey, Oliver, 2015. "Aid and Government Fiscal Behavior: Assessing Recent Evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 98-105.
    40. Cally Ardington & Alicia Menendez & Tinofa Mutevedzi, 2015. "Early Childbearing, Human Capital Attainment, and Mortality Risk: Evidence from a Longitudinal Demographic Surveillance Area in Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(2), pages 281-317.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Łukasz Marć, 2017. "The Impact of Aid on Total Government Expenditures: New Evidence on Fungibility," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 627-663, August.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Hillary C. Ezeaku, 2020. "Aid Grants vs. Technical Cooperation Grants: Implications for Inclusive Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1984-2018," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 20/091, African Governance and Development Institute..
    3. Łukasz Marć, 2015. "The impact of aid on total government expenditures: New evidence on fungibility," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-010, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Carter, Patrick, 2017. "Aid econometrics: Lessons from a stochastic growth model," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 216-232.
    5. Langlotz, Sarah & Potrafke, Niklas, 2019. "Does development aid increase military expenditure?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 735-757.
    6. Temple, Jonathan R.W., 2010. "Aid and Conditionality," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4415-4523, Elsevier.
    7. Elena Groß & Felicitas Nowak‐Lehmann Danzinger, 2022. "What effect does development aid have on productivity in recipient countries?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 1438-1465, August.
    8. Seim, Brigitte & Jablonski, Ryan & Ahlbäck, Johan, 2020. "How information about foreign aid affects public spending decisions: Evidence from a field experiment in Malawi," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    9. Cohen, Isabelle, 2023. "Crowd in or crowd out? The subnational fiscal response to aid," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    10. Seim, Brigitte & Jablonski, Ryan S. & Ahlback, Johan, 2020. "How information about foreign aid affects public spending decisions: evidence from a field experiment in Malawi," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 105255, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Gauri Kartini Shastry & Daniel L Tortorice, 2021. "Effective Foreign Aid: Evidence from Gavi’s Vaccine Program," Working Papers 2102, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    12. Tia Palermo & Sudhanshu Handa & Amber Peterman & Leah Prencipe & David Seidenfeld, 2016. "Unconditional government social cash transfer in Africa does not increase fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(4), pages 1083-1111, October.
    13. Juergen Bitzer & Erkan Goeren, 2018. "Foreign Aid and Subnational Development: A Grid Cell Analysis," Working Papers V-407-18, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2018.
    14. Donaubauer, Julian & Meyer, Birgit & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2016. "Aid, Infrastructure, and FDI: Assessing the Transmission Channel with a New Index of Infrastructure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 230-245.
    15. Jean-Louis Combes & Rasmane Ouedraogo & Sampawende J.-A. Tapsoba, 2016. "Structural shifts in aid dependency and fiscal policy in developing countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(46), pages 4426-4446, October.
    16. Okullo, Samuel J. & Reynès, Frédéric, 2011. "Can reserve additions in mature crude oil provinces attenuate peak oil?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 5755-5764.
    17. Thomas Baudin, 2008. "Religion and Fertility : The French Connection," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00348829, HAL.
    18. Rasmane Ouedraogo & Windemanegda Sandrine Sourouema & Hamidou Sawadogo, 2021. "Aid, growth and institutions in Sub‐Saharan Africa: New insights using a multiple growth regime approach," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 107-142, January.
    19. Minoiu, Camelia & Reddy, Sanjay G., 2010. "Development aid and economic growth: A positive long-run relation," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 27-39, February.
    20. Marc Frenette, 2011. "Why do larger families reduce parental investments in child quality, but not child quality per se?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 523-537, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    adolescent fertility; development aid; development goals; official development assistance; F35; I15;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:globdv:v:11:y:2020:i:1:p:35:n:2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.