IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/dia/wpaper/dt201103.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Curse of the Elders? Aid Effectiveness and Gerontocracy in Developing Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Marc Raffinot

    (LEDa, UMR DIAL-Paris-Dauphine)

  • Baptiste Venet

    (LEDa, UMR DIAL-Paris-Dauphine)

Abstract

(english) In this paper we use a simple standard overlapping-generation model to assess the impact of foreign aid. Because of deference to the elders, donors are not able to modify the sharing out of aid between the old and the young in the recipient economy. The model shows that, if aid is considered as a device intended to help attain the spontaneous steady state of the economy, it may lead to a rise or fall in savings, and hence in the growth rate of the economy, depending on a threshold share of aid accruing to elders. Alternately, if aid is intended to help the economy to reach its golden-rule steady state, the relevant level of aid increases with the share of aid accruing to elders, up to a certain threshold. If this share is higher than the threshold, the optimal level of aid is negative. _________________________________ (français) Nous utilisons un modèle à générations imbriquées pour montre que la répartition de l’aide entre jeunes et vieux peut avoir un impact sur l’efficacité de l’aide en termes d’épargne, de croissance et de bien-être. Les sociétés en développement sont généralement marquées par une « déférence pour les anciens » profondément ancrée dans la culture traditionnelle. Nous supposons que les donateurs sont incapables de manipuler cette part, et nous montrons que la part de l’aide qui revient aux vieux a un impact sur la croissance et le bien-être positif en dessous d’un certain seuil et négatif au-delà.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc Raffinot & Baptiste Venet, 2011. "The Curse of the Elders? Aid Effectiveness and Gerontocracy in Developing Countries," Working Papers DT/2011/03, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    • Handle: RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dial.ird.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2011-03-The-Curse-of-the-Elders-Aid-Effectiveness-and-Gerontocracy-in-Developing-Countries.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2011
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert J. Barro, 2013. "Inflation and Economic Growth," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 14(1), pages 121-144, May.
    2. Todd Moss & Gunilla Pettersson & Nicolas van de Walle, 2006. "An Aid-Institutions Paradox? A Review Essay on Aid Dependency and State Building in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 74, Center for Global Development.
    3. R. Lensink & H. White, 2001. "Are There Negative Returns to Aid?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6), pages 42-65.
    4. Martin, Philippe & Rogers, Carol Ann, 1997. "Stabilization Policy, Learning-by-Doing, and Economic Growth," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(2), pages 152-166, April.
    5. Henrik Hansen & Finn Tarp, 2000. "Aid effectiveness disputed," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(3), pages 375-398, April.
    6. François Bourguignon & Mark Sundberg, 2007. "Aid Effectiveness – Opening the Black Box," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 316-321, May.
    7. Collier, Paul & Dollar, David, 2001. "Can the World Cut Poverty in Half? How Policy Reform and Effective Aid Can Meet International Development Goals," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 1787-1802, November.
    8. Holden, Stein T. & Shiferaw, Bekele & Wik, Mette, 1998. "Poverty, market imperfections and time preferences: of relevance for environmental policy?," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 105-130, February.
    9. Collier, Paul & Dollar, David, 2002. "Aid allocation and poverty reduction," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1475-1500, September.
    10. Azam, Jean-Paul & Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 2003. "Contracting for aid," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 25-58, February.
    11. Abigail Barr, 1995. "The missing factor: entrepreneurial networks, enterprises and economic growth in Ghana," CSAE Working Paper Series 1995-11, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    12. Pranab Bardhan, 1997. "Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1320-1346, September.
    13. Moseley, William G., 2001. "African evidence on the relation of poverty, time preference and the environment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 317-326, September.
    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. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5745 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. 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.
    3. Vatthanamixay Chansomphou & Masaru Ichihashi, 2011. "Foreign aid, foreign direct investment and economic growth of Lao PDR," IDEC DP2 Series 1-2, Hiroshima University, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC).
    4. Almuth Scholl, 2009. "Aid Effectiveness and Limited Enforceable Conditionality," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(2), pages 377-391, April.
    5. Mina Baliamoune‐Lutz & George Mavrotas, 2009. "Aid Effectiveness: Looking at the Aid–Social Capital–Growth Nexus," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 510-525, August.
    6. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2005-054 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Sylviane GUILLAUMONT JEANNENEY & Patrick GUILLAUMONT, 2006. "Big Push versus Absorptive Capacity: How to Reconcile the Two Approaches," Working Papers 200614, CERDI.
    8. BAYALE, Nimonka, 2018. "Quel volume d’aide internationale pour la croissance dans l’UEMOA ? [What amount of foreign aid for economic growth in WAEMU?]," MPRA Paper 88886, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 07 Sep 2018.
    9. Carl-Johan Dalgaard & Henrik Hansen & Finn Tarp, 2004. "On The Empirics of Foreign Aid and Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(496), pages 191-216, June.
    10. Vlad Pavlov & Craig Sugden, 2006. "Aid and Growth in the Pacific Islands," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 20(2), pages 38-55, November.
    11. Tony Addison & George Mavrotas & Mark McGillivray, 2005. "Aid, Debt Relief and New Sources of Finance for Meeting the Millennium Development Goals," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-09, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Tony Addison & George Mavrotas & Mark McGillivray, 2005. "Development assistance and development finance: evidence and global policy agendas," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(6), pages 819-836.
    13. Laurent Wagner, 2014. "Identifying thresholds in aid effectiveness," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 150(3), pages 619-638, August.
    14. repec:bla:rdevec:v:13:y:2009:i:s1:p:510-525 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Jan-Erik Antipin & George Mavrotas, 2006. "On the Empirics of Aid and Growth: A Fresh Look," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-05, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Keith Blackburn & Gonzalo F. Forgues-Puccio, 2011. "Foreign aid - a fillip for development or a fuel for corruption?," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 158, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    17. Feeny, Simon & de Silva, Ashton, 2012. "Measuring absorptive capacity constraints to foreign aid," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 725-733.
    18. Mark McGillivray, 2005. "Réformer la formule : commentaires.Efficacité de l'aide et régimes de politiques économiques dans les pays receveurs," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 13(2), pages 119-127.
    19. Kathavate, Jay, 2013. "Direct & Indirect Effects of Aid Volatility on Growth: Do Stronger Institutions Play a Role?," MPRA Paper 45187, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Simon Feeny & Paul Hansen & Stephen Knowles & Mark McGillivray & Franz Ombler, 2019. "Donor motives, public preferences and the allocation of UK foreign aid: a discrete choice experiment approach," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 155(3), pages 511-537, August.
    21. Ziyoda Asatullaeva & Reza Fathollah Zadeh Aghdam & Nisar Ahmad & Laylo Tashpulatova, 2021. "The impact of foreign aid on economic development: A systematic literature review and content analysis of the top 50 most influential papers," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 717-751, May.
    22. Tierney, Michael J. & Nielson, Daniel L. & Hawkins, Darren G. & Roberts, J. Timmons & Findley, Michael G. & Powers, Ryan M. & Parks, Bradley & Wilson, Sven E. & Hicks, Robert L., 2011. "More Dollars than Sense: Refining Our Knowledge of Development Finance Using AidData," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 1891-1906.
    23. Mark McGillivray, 2005. "What determines African bilateral aid receipts?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(8), pages 1003-1018.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Developing Countries; Elders; Aid effectiveness; Overlapping Generations Models.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination
    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:dia:wpaper:dt201103. 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: Loic Le Pezennec (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/diallfr.html .

    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.