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A Paradox of Redistribution in International Aid? The Determinants of Poverty-Oriented Development Assistance

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  • Bodenstein, Thilo
  • Kemmerling, Achim

Abstract

Donors differ in the amount of official development assistance dedicated to poverty reduction. We investigate the causes of variation over time and donors by employing both a regression approach with aggregate data on bilateral aid and two short country studies on Germany and the United Kingdom. We find that there is a trade-off between the total amount of money given, and the amount of money given to poor countries. The trade-off is similar to the paradox of redistribution of targeting vs. redistribution in rich welfare states. Case-study evidence illustrates how countries have managed this tradeoff.

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  • Bodenstein, Thilo & Kemmerling, Achim, 2015. "A Paradox of Redistribution in International Aid? The Determinants of Poverty-Oriented Development Assistance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 359-369.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:76:y:2015:i:c:p:359-369
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.08.001
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