IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/fortra/v54y2019i3p253-263.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Foreign Aid and Corruption: Clarifying Murky Empirical Conclusions

Author

Listed:
  • Uchenna Efobi
  • Ibukun Beecroft
  • Simplice Asongu

Abstract

This study considers foreign aid flow by sector in which the aid is directed and then estimates its impact on corruption in order to clarify the specific direction of aid flow that triggers (or does not trigger) corrupt practices. Data are from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development database, Freedom House dataset, and the World Bank Governance Indicators. The dynamic system GMM and quantile regressions (QR) were estimated for robust estimation and correction of endogeneity issues. We found that aid flows for the development of economic infrastructure, multi-sector and programme assistance were consistently reducing corruption. This result stands for both the entire sample and for the African countries (especially for countries at the 25th, 50th and 75th quintiles). Aid flows to social infrastructure and debt relief significantly induce corrupt practices in the sampled countries. These forms of aid only spur rent-seeking behaviour for countries at the lower quintiles of corruption. Two robust checks were estimated, including: (a) using an alternate explained variable—the corruption measure by Transparency International; and (b) correcting for endogeneity in the QR estimation by instrumenting the independent variables of interest with their first-lags. For both checks, the signs and significant values of the variables were consistent with the earlier estimation. JEL Codes: B20, F35, F50, O10, O55

Suggested Citation

  • Uchenna Efobi & Ibukun Beecroft & Simplice Asongu, 2019. "Foreign Aid and Corruption: Clarifying Murky Empirical Conclusions," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 54(3), pages 253-263, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:fortra:v:54:y:2019:i:3:p:253-263
    DOI: 10.1177/0015732519851633
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0015732519851633
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0015732519851633?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simplice Asongu & Rangan Gupta, 2016. "Trust and quality of growth: a note," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(3), pages 1854-1867.
    2. Simplice A Asongu, 2012. "On the effect of foreign aid on corruption," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(3), pages 2174-2180.
    3. Cooray, Arusha & Dzhumashev, Ratbek & Schneider, Friedrich, 2017. "How Does Corruption Affect Public Debt? An Empirical Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 115-127.
    4. Simplice A. Asongu, 2013. "Fighting corruption in Africa: do existing corruption‐control levels matter?," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(1), pages 36-52, April.
    5. Joao Tovar Jalles, 2011. "The Impact Of Democracy And Corruption On The Debt-Growth Relationship In Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 41-72, December.
    6. Elizabeth Asiedu, 2006. "Foreign Direct Investment in Africa: The Role of Natural Resources, Market Size, Government Policy, Institutions and Political Instability," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 63-77, January.
    7. Okada, Keisuke & Samreth, Sovannroeun, 2012. "The effect of foreign aid on corruption: A quantile regression approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 240-243.
    8. Philipp Harms & Matthias Lutz, 2006. "Aid, Governance and Private Foreign Investment: Some Puzzling Findings for the 1990s," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(513), pages 773-790, July.
    9. AfDB AfDB, . "African statistical Journal (Vol.2 - May 2006)," African Statistical Journal, African Development Bank, number 983.
    10. William Easterly (ed.), 2008. "Reinventing Foreign Aid," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262550660, December.
    11. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2017. "Foreign Aid and Inclusive Development: Updated Evidence from Africa, 2005–2012," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 98(1), pages 282-298, March.
    12. Selaya, Pablo & Sunesen, Eva Rytter, 2012. "Does Foreign Aid Increase Foreign Direct Investment?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(11), pages 2155-2176.
    13. Uchenna Efobi, 2015. "Politicians’ Attributes and Institutional Quality in Africa: A Focus on Corruption," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(3), pages 787-813, July.
    14. Kimura, Hidemi & Todo, Yasuyuki, 2010. "Is Foreign Aid a Vanguard of Foreign Direct Investment? A Gravity-Equation Approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 482-497, April.
    15. George Economides & Sarantis Kalyvitis & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2008. "Does foreign aid distort incentives and hurt growth? Theory and evidence from 75 aid-recipient countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 463-488, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Efobi, Uchenna & Asongu, Simplice, 2015. "How Terrorism Explains Capital Flight from Africa," MPRA Paper 68662, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2017. "Foreign Aid and Inclusive Development: Updated Evidence from Africa, 2005–2012," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 98(1), pages 282-298, March.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2018. "Increasing Foreign Aid for Inclusive Human Development in Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(2), pages 443-466, July.
    4. Efobi, Uchenna & Asongu, Simplice, 2016. "Terrorism and capital flight from Africa," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 81-94.
    5. Asongu, Simplice, 2014. "A brief clarification to the questionable economics of foreign aid for inclusive human development," MPRA Paper 64458, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Simplice Asongu & Uchenna EFOBI & Ibukun BEECROFT, 2015. "FDI, Aid, Terrorism: Conditional Threshold Evidence from Developing Countries," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/019, African Governance and Development Institute..
    7. Simplice A. Asongu Ph.D & Joseph Nnanna, . "Foreign Aid And Sustainable Inclusive Human Development In Africa," Journal of Economic and Sustainable Growth 2, Office Of The Chief Economist, Development Bank of Nigeria.

    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. Uchenna Efobi & Simplice Asongu & Ibukun Beecroft, 2018. "Aid, Terrorism, and Foreign Direct Investment: Empirical Insight Conditioned on Corruption Control," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 610-630, October.
    2. Uchenna R. Efobi & Simplice A. Asongu & Ibukun Beecroft, 2015. "Foreign Direct Investment, Aid and Terrorism: Empirical Insight Conditioned on Corruption Control," Research Africa Network Working Papers 15/007, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    3. 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.
    4. EFOBI Uchenna & NNADI Matthias, 2015. "How Does Foreign Aid Affect the Relationship between IFRS Adoption and Foreign Direct Investment?," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/014, African Governance and Development Institute..
    5. Junyan Tian, 2023. "Does agricultural official development assistance facilitate foreign direct investment in agriculture: Evidence from 63 developing countries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 702-718, September.
    6. Julian Donaubauer, 2014. "Does foreign aid really attract foreign investors? New evidence from panel cointegration," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(15), pages 1094-1098, October.
    7. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2022. "Aid for Trade, export product diversification, and foreign direct investment," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 534-561, February.
    8. Donaubauer, Julian & Herzer, Dierk & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2012. "Does aid for education attract foreign investors? An empirical analysis for Latin America," Kiel Working Papers 1806, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    9. Efobi, Uchenna & Nnadi, Matthias, 2015. "Foreign Aid, IFRS Adoption and Foreign Direct Investment," EconStor Preprints 114568, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    10. Garriga, Ana Carolina & Phillips, Brian John, 2014. "Foreign Aid as a Signal to Investors: Predicting FDI in Post-Conflict Countries," MPRA Paper 88643, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Brun, Jean-François & Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2017. "Does trade openness contribute to driving financing flows for development?," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2017-06, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    12. D. Tripati Rao & Narayan Sethi & Devi Prasad Dash & Padmaja Bhujabal, 2023. "Foreign Aid, FDI and Economic Growth in South-East Asia and South Asia," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 24(1), pages 31-47, February.
    13. Asongu, Simplice A. & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2021. "Inequality, finance and renewable energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 678-688.
    14. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2017. "Foreign Aid and Inclusive Development: Updated Evidence from Africa, 2005–2012," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 98(1), pages 282-298, March.
    15. Emmanuelle Auriol & Josepa Miquel-Florensa, 2019. "Taxing fragmented aid to improve aid efficiency," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 453-477, September.
    16. Asongu, Simplice A. & Uduji, Joseph I. & Okolo-Obasi, Elda N., 2019. "Homicide and social media: Global empirical evidence," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    17. Asongu Simplice, 2014. "The Evolving Debate on the Effect of Foreign Aid on Corruption and Institutions in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 14/009, African Governance and Development Institute..
    18. Uchenna Efobi & Simplice Asongu, 2016. "Terrorism and capital flight from Africa," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 148, pages 81-94.
    19. Asongu, Simplice & Odhiambo, Nicholas, 2020. "The role of governance in quality education in sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 107497, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Asongu, Simplice A., 2013. "On the effectiveness of foreign aid in institutional quality," European Economic Letters, European Economics Letters Group, vol. 2(1), pages 12-19.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign aid; political economy; development; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B20 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - General
    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • F50 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - General
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

    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:sae:fortra:v:54:y:2019:i:3:p:253-263. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.