Determinants of Donor Generosity: A Survey of the Aid Budget Literature
Abstract
What determines the foreign aid effort of donor countries? We review the existing literature on donors’ aid budgets and examine which of the suggested variables robustly determine aid effort, measured as Official Development Assistance (ODA) as a share of gross national income. More specifically, we empirically test 16 hypotheses using panel econometric methods for member countries of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in the 1976-2008 period. To test for the robustness of our results, we extend our dataset to 48 possible determinants of aid budgets and apply an Extreme Bounds Analysis (EBA). In our fixed effects regressions, we find that aid inertia, the donor country’s GDP per capita, the existence of an independent aid agency, and colonial history have a robust and quantitatively relevant impact on countries’ aid efforts. Among the potential substitutes for aid, remittances exert a robust effect. Excluding year fixed effects, political globalization, Russian military capacity, peer effects, aid effectiveness, and government debt also play a significant roleDownload Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by Kiel Institute for the World Economy in its series Kiel Working Papers with number 1789.Length: 36 pages
Date of creation: Aug 2012
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:kie:kieliw:1789
Contact details of provider:
Postal: Hindenburgufer 66, D-24105 Kiel
Phone: +49 431 8814-1
Fax: +49 431 85853
Email:
Web page: http://www.ifw-kiel.de
More information through EDIRC
Related research
Keywords: Foreign aid; Official Development Assistance; Aid budget; Extreme Bounds Analysis;Other versions of this item:
- Andreas Fuchs & Axel Dreher & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2012. "Determinants of Donor Generosity: A Survey of the Aid Budget Literature," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 121, Courant Research Centre PEG.
- F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
- H81 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Governmental Loans; Loan Guarantees; Credits; Grants; Bailouts
- H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2012-09-09 (All new papers)
- NEP-CIS-2012-09-09 (Confederation of Independent States)
- NEP-CWA-2012-09-09 (Central & Western Asia)
- NEP-HIS-2012-09-09 (Business, Economic & Financial History)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Niklas Potrafke, 2010.
"Does government ideology influence budget composition? Empirical evidence from OECD countries,"
Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz
2010-16, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
- Niklas Potrafke, 2011. "Does government ideology influence budget composition? Empirical evidence from OECD countries," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 101-134, June.
- Beck, T.H.L. & Clarke, G. & Groff, A. & Keefer , P. & Walsh, P., 2001. "New tools in comparative political economy: The database of political institutions," Open Access publications from Tilburg University urn:nbn:nl:ui:12-3125517, Tilburg University.
- Ale Bulir & A. Javier Hamann, 2003. "Aid Volatility: An Empirical Assessment," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 50(1), pages 4.
- Doucouliagos , H. & Paldam, M., 2007.
"The aid effectiveness literature: The sad results of 40 years of research,"
Cambridge Working Papers in Economics
0773, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
- Hristos Doucouliagos & Martin Paldam, 2009. "The Aid Effectiveness Literature: The Sad Results Of 40 Years Of Research," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 433-461, 07.
- Hristos Doucouliagos & Martin Paldam, 2005. "The Aid Effectiveness Literature. The Sad Result of 40 Years of Research," Economics Working Papers 2005-15, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus.
- Round, Jeffery I. & Odedokun, Matthew, 2004. "Aid effort and its determinants," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 293-309.
- Faini, Riccardo, 2006.
"Foreign Aid and Fiscal Policy,"
CEPR Discussion Papers
5721, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Riccardo Faini, 2006. "Foreign aid and fiscal policy," Development Working Papers 212, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano.
- Round, Jeffery I. & Odedokun, Matthew, 2003. "Aid Effort and its Determinants," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
- Alesina, Alberto & Dollar, David, 2000.
" Who Gives Foreign Aid to Whom and Why?,"
Journal of Economic Growth,
Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 33-63, March.
- Dollar, David & Alesina, Alberto, 2000. "Who Gives Foreign Aid to Whom and Why?," Scholarly Articles 4553020, Harvard University Department of Economics.
- Alberto Alesina & David Dollar, 1998. "Who Gives Foreign Aid to Whom and Why?," NBER Working Papers 6612, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Thierry Mayer & Soledad Zignago, 2011.
"Notes on CEPII’s distances measures: The GeoDist database,"
Working Papers
2011-25, CEPII research center.
- Mayer, Thierry & Zignago, Soledad, 2006. "Notes on CEPII’s distances measures," MPRA Paper 26469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- Martin Gassebner & Michael Lamla & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2006.
"Economic, Demographic and Political Determinants of Pollution Reassessed: A Sensitivity Analysis,"
CESifo Working Paper Series
1699, CESifo Group Munich.
- Martin Gassebner & Michael Lamla & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2006. "Economic, Demographic and Political Determinants of Pollution Reassessed: A Sensitivity Analysis," KOF Working papers 06-129, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
- Dudley, L., 1977.
"Foreign Aid and the Theory of Alliances,"
Cahiers de recherche
7704, Universite de Montreal, Departement de sciences economiques.
- Dudley, Leonard M, 1979. "Foreign Aid and the Theory of Alliances," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 61(4), pages 564-71, November.
- Fleck, Robert K. & Kilby, Christopher, 2009.
"Changing Aid Regimes? U.S. Foreign Aid from the Cold War to the War on Terror,"
Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics Working Paper Series
1, Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics.
- Fleck, Robert K. & Kilby, Christopher, 2010. "Changing aid regimes? U.S. foreign aid from the Cold War to the War on Terror," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 185-197, March.
- Tingley, Dustin, 2010. "Donors and domestic politics: Political influences on foreign aid effort," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 40-49, February.
- Erik Lundsgaarde & Christian Breunig & Aseem Prakash, 2007. "Trade versus aid: donor generosity in an era of globalization," Policy Sciences, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 157-179, June.
- Axel Dreher & Andreas Fuchs, 2011. "Does terror increase aid?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 337-363, December.
- Mosley, Paul, 1985. "The Political Economy of Foreign Aid: A Model of the Market for a Public Good," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 373-93, January.
- Simone Bertoli & Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Francesco Manaresi, 2008. "Aid Effort and Its Determinants: A Comparison of the Italian Performance with other OECD Donors," Working Papers Series wp2008_11.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Economia e Dell'Impresa.
- Axel Dreher, 2006.
"Does globalization affect growth? Evidence from a new index of globalization,"
Applied Economics,
Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 38(10), pages 1091-1110.
- Axel Dreher, 2005. "Does Globalization Affect Growth? Evidence from a new Index of Globalization," TWI Research Paper Series 6, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
- Axel Dreher & Andreas Fuchs, 2011. "Does terror increase aid?," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 86, Courant Research Centre PEG.
- Anne Boschini & Anders Olofsg�rd, 2007. "Foreign aid: An instrument for fighting communism?," The Journal of Development Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 622-648.
- Ilyana Kuziemko & Eric Werker, 2006. "How Much Is a Seat on the Security Council Worth? Foreign Aid and Bribery at the United Nations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(5), pages 905-930, October.
- Schweinberger, Albert G. & Lahiri, Sajal, 2006. "On the provision of official and private foreign aid," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 179-197, June.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2013. "How do OECD donor countries distribute foreign aid among developing countries during their fiscal episodes?," Working Papers halshs-00786009, HAL.
- Axel Dreher & Peter Nunnenkamp & Maya Schmaljohann, 2013. "The Allocation of German Aid: Self-interest and Government Ideology," Kiel Working Papers 1817, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kie:kieliw:1789For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Dieter Stribny).
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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

