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Addressing the Food Aid Curse

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  • Max Blouin
  • Stéphane Pallage

Abstract

In this paper, we build a model of agrarian economies in which a kleptocratic government taxes farmers to maximize its life-time utility. The model is a dynamic general equilibrium model in which the subsistence of farmers requires a minimum level of consumption. We analyze the effect that a benevolent food aid agency can have in such an environment. If it expects the food aid agency to intervene, the kleptocratic government will starve its farmers, in a clear case of the Samaritan's dilemma. We show that the likelihood of man-made famines, however, can be greatly reduced if the food aid agency intervenes with probability slightly lower than one. No aid agency devoted to saving lives, however, can commit to such policy. We propose a solution to this food aid curse.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by CIRPEE in its series Cahiers de recherche with number 0717.

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Date of creation: 2007
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Handle: RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0717

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Keywords: Food aid; famines; commitment;

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References

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  1. 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.
  2. Boone, Peter, 1996. "Politics and the effectiveness of foreign aid," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 289-329, February.
  3. Hagen, Rune Jansen, 2006. "Samaritan agents? On the strategic delegation of aid policy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 249-263, February.
  4. Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson & Thierry Verdier, 2004. "Alfred Marshall Lecture: Kleptocracy and Divide-and-Rule: A Model of Personal Rule," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(2-3), pages 162-192, 04/05.
  5. Max Blouin & Stéphane Pallage, 2007. "Humanitarian Relief and Civil Conflict," Cahiers de recherche 0706, CIRPEE.
  6. William Easterly, 2003. "Can Foreign Aid Buy Growth?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 23-48, Summer.
  7. Karl Pedersen, 2001. "The Samaritan's Dilemma and the Effectiveness of Development Aid," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 8(5), pages 693-703, November.
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Cited by:
  1. J. Atsu Amegashie, 2009. "Third-Party Intervention in Conflicts and the Indirect Samaritan's Dilemma," CESifo Working Paper Series 2695, CESifo Group Munich.
  2. Max Blouin & Stéphane Pallage, 2007. "Humanitarian Relief and Civil Conflict," Cahiers de recherche 0706, CIRPEE.
  3. Margolies, Amy & Hoddinott, John, 2012. "Mapping the Impacts of Food Aid: Current Knowledge and Future Directions," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
  4. Max Blouin & Stéphane Pallage, 2009. "Warlords, Famine and Food Aid: Who Fights, Who Starves?," Cahiers de recherche 0947, CIRPEE.

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