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Institutional benchmarking of foreign aid effectiveness in Africa

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  • Asongu Simplice

    (Yaoundé/Cameroun)

Abstract

This paper integrates two main strands of the aid-development nexus in assessing whether institutional thresholds matter in the effectiveness of foreign aid on institutional development in 53 African countries over the period 1996-2010. Eight government quality indicators are employed: rule of law, regulation quality, government effectiveness, corruption, voice & accountability, control of corruption, political stability and democracy. Three hypotheses are tested and the following findings are established: (1) Institutional benefits of foreign-aid are contingent on existing institutional levels in Africa. (2) But for a thin exception (democracy), foreign-aid is more negatively correlated with countries of higher institutional quality than with those of lower quality. (3) The institutional benefits of foreign-aid are not questionable until greater domestic institutional development has taken place. The reverse is true instead. Government quality benefits of development assistance are questionable in African countries irrespective of prevailing institutional quality levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Asongu Simplice, 2012. "Institutional benchmarking of foreign aid effectiveness in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 12/028, African Governance and Development Institute..
    • Handle: RePEc:agd:wpaper:12/028
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    Cited by:

    1. Asongu Simplice & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2015. "Foreign aid instability and bundled governance dynamics in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/058, African Governance and Development Institute..
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph Nnanna, 2019. "Foreign aid, instability and governance in Africa," Research Africa Network Working Papers 19/022, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    3. Adedeji Adeniran & Mma Amara Ekeruche & Chimere O. Iheonu, 2022. "The Quality Of Budgetary Institutions In Africa: Exploring The Drivers," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 67(232), pages 127-152, January –.
    4. Asongu, Simplice & Nwachukwu, Jacinta, 2015. "Foreign aid volatility and lifelong learning: demand-side empirics to a textual literature," MPRA Paper 67853, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. 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..
    6. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo-Obasi, 2020. "Foreign aid volatility and lifelong learning," International Journal of Education Economics and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(4), pages 370-406.
    7. Dijkstra, Geske, 2018. "Aid and good governance: Examining aggregate unintended effects of aid," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 225-232.
    8. Oasis Kodila-Tedika & Asongu Simplice, 2016. "State fragility, rent seeking and lobbying: evidence from African data," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 43(10), pages 1016-1030, October.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2019. "Foreign Aid, Education and Lifelong Learning in Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 126-146, March.
    10. Simplice A. Asongu & Mohamed Jellal, 2014. "Foreign aid, investment and fiscal policy behavior: theory and empirical evidence," Research Africa Network Working Papers 14/030, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    11. Maonei Mangwanya, 2022. "Evaluating the impacts of foreign aid on low-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 11(6), pages 370-377, September.

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    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

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