scholarly journals Is the Threat of Foreign Aid Withdrawal an Effective Deterrent to Political Oppression? Evidence from 53 African Countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simplice A. Asongu ◽  
Jacinta C. Nwachukwu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Effective Deterrent

scholarly journals Foreign aid on economic growth in Africa: A comparison of low and middle-income countries

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aye Mengistu Alemu ◽  
Jin-Sang Lee
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Theoretical Hypothesis

Previous empirical studies on the effects of foreign aid on economic growth have generated mixed results that make it difficult to draw policy recommendations. The main reason for such mixed results is the choice of a single aggregate list of countries, regardless of the disparities in levels of development. This study therefore fills the development gap by disaggregating the African data into a panel of 20 middle- income and 19 low- income African countries over a period of 15 years between 1995 and 2010, and employing a dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) model to address the dynamic nature of economic growth as well as the problems of endogeneity. The results of this study support the theoretical hypothesis that a positive relationship between aid and GDP growth exists, but only for low-income African countries, not middle-income ones. On the other hand, the study reveals that middle- income African countries tend to experience a greater impact on their economic growth from foreign direct investment (FDI) and natural resources revenues, mainly oil exports. This implies that the frequent criticism that foreign aid has not contributed to economic growth is flawed, at least in the case of low-income African countries. In fact, foreign aid has played a critical role in stimulating economic growth in such countries through supplementing domestic sources of finance such as savings, thus increasing the amount of investment and capital stock in them.

scholarly journals China's and Japan's Foreign Aid Policies vis-à-vis Lusophone Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Miguel Amakasu Raposo de Medeiros Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Poverty Eradication ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Aid Allocation ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Trade And Investment ◽  
Model Approach

This article compares the evolution of China's and Japan's foreign policies to Lusophone Africa, focusing on the period post-2000. The lack of analysis on Beijing's and Tokyo's respective aid policies towards Portuguese-speaking African countries (Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa, PALOP) makes this study relevant. Arguably, Japan's development “edge” over China in terms of the “aid model” approach towards PALOP countries is under threat. This raises questions about China's changing pattern of aid, characterised by an increasing amount of “soft” aid towards PALOP states outside of trade and investment relations, which is much in line with Japan's aid philosophy and, according to observers, less neocolonialist than Japan's previous aid practices. This paper asks which model of cooperation is morally better and which is more effective, as both donors have interests in PALOP countries beyond development assistance. It finds complementarities in the two countries’ aid allocation to PALOP states, such as poverty eradication given the sectoral diversity of Chinese aid, and the empowerment of local communities fostered by Japanese aid's emphasis on grassroots and human-security projects.

scholarly journals Institutional benchmarking of foreign aid effectiveness in Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 543-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simplice A. Asongu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Institutional Quality ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Dynamics ◽  
Government Quality ◽  
Institutional Benefits

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to integrate 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. Design/methodology/approach – The panel quantile regression technique enables us to investigate if the relationship between institutional dynamics and development assistance differs throughout the distributions of institutional dynamics. Eight government quality indicators are employed: rule of law, regulation quality, government effectiveness, corruption, voice and accountability, control of corruption, political stability and democracy. Findings – Three hypotheses are tested and the following findings are established: first, institutional benefits of foreign-aid are contingent on existing institutional levels in Africa; second, but for a thin exception (democracy), foreign-aid is more negatively correlated with countries of higher institutional quality than with those of lower quality; third, 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. Originality/value – This paper contributes to existing literature on the effectiveness of foreign-aid by focussing on the distribution of the dependent variables (institutional dynamics). It is likely that best and worst countries in terms of institutions respond differently to development assistance.

Effect of foreign aid on corruption: evidence from Sub-Saharan African countries

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masoud Rashid Mohamed ◽  
Shivee Ranjanee Kaliappan ◽  
Normaz Wana Ismail ◽  
W.N.W Azman-Saini
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Alternative Measure ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ssa Countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of foreign aid on corruption in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Foreign aid is aimed to promote economic growth by complementing the recipient country’s shortfall of financial resource. However, if the recipient country’s quality of governance and institutions is poor, the process of growth will be undermined. Since foreign aid to SSA countries has been increasing substantially in recent years, it is imperative to explore its impact on the level of corruption in the SSA countries. Design/methodology/approach – The paper opted to use a Quantile regression (QR) approach to examine the impact of foreign aid on corruption. The data cover from the year 2000 to 2010 for 42 Sub-Saharan countries. QR is appropriate to achieve the stated objective because the method enables to examine the effect of aid on at different level of corruption. Findings – The paper provides empirical insights on the impact of foreign aid on corruption level in SSA countries. The finding indicates that foreign aid has reduction effect on the corruption level of SSA countries. The effect is likely to be greater in nations that experience a higher level of corruption. The findings further reveal that aid from different bilateral sources has different effect on corruption. As a whole, the findings are statistically significant and robust to alternative measure of corruption. Research limitations/implications – Since the study just focus on Sub-Saharan African countries, the research findings may lack generalization to the entire African countries or poor developing countries that are receiving substantial amount of foreign aid. Therefore, future research should incorporate all the African countries or all poor developing countries. Practical implications – Since the empirical findings reveals that aid reduces the corruption level and aid from different bilateral source have different effect on corruption, it is important to establish more cooperation between donor countries in allocating aid. The conditions attached to aid should be, among other things, be related with improvement of governance and institutional environment. Allocation of aid should be selective such that countries in institutional quality should be among the important criteria for a country to qualify for aid. Originality/value – This paper fulfills the need to study the relationship between foreign aid and corruption in the case of SSA countries. The aid-corruption nexus is relatively under explored issue especially in the case African countries.

Nongovernmental Organizations: Bread for the World, Inc.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Ashbaugh ◽  
Gary A. Goreham
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
Food For Peace ◽  
Nutrition Assistance

Bread for the World, Inc. is a 501(c)4 faith-based organization whose purpose is to advocate policymakers to end hunger and poverty. The organization began in the early 1970s, founded by Arthur Simon, who became its first president. Simon’s 1975 book, Bread for the World, outlined the vision and scope of the organization, not as a service-delivery entity but as an education, coalition-building, and advocacy organization. David Beckmann, author of Exodus from Hunger: We Are Called to Change the Politics of Hunger, is the organization’s president as of 1991. The organization is supported by individuals, local congregations, denominations, and other organizations. Two related affiliates were created to assist in the hunger-ending goal. First, Bread for the World Institute, a 501(c)3 organization, conducts research on domestic and global hunger issues and disseminates reports to those advocating for hunger-ending policy with its Annual Hunger Report. Second, the Alliance to End Hunger, a 501(c)3 organization, brings together a wide range of both faith-based and secular organizations in the fight against hunger. Bread for the World has a noteworthy history of advocacy and collaboration. They actively advocated in 2000 for Jubilee 2000, a debt relief and forgiveness program for over 40 countries. They promoted the African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000 to promote quality of life, human rights, and equitable trade relationships between the United States and African countries. Bread for the World advocated for the Food for Peace Acts and the 2016 Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act to extend foreign aid more quickly and efficiently. They worked with legislators regarding the Head Start programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program. Bread for the World used a Feed Our Children letter-writing campaign for individuals to put pressure on legislators to place priority on children’s food programs. As winner of the World Food Prize in 2010, David Beckmann stated, “We must talk to real people in power, about concrete issues, and not about big dreams.” Bread for the World’s goal is the UN’s Sustainability Development Goal to eliminate hunger by 2030.

scholarly journals Foreign Aid and Corruption: Clarifying Murky Empirical Conclusions

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uchenna Efobi ◽  
Ibukun Beecroft ◽  
Simplice Asongu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Transparency International ◽  
Governance Indicators ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Specific Direction ◽  
Economic Infrastructure ◽  
Freedom House

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

Foreign Aid and Poverty level in West African Countries: New evidence using a heterogeneous panel analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 03 (04) ◽  
pp. 09-18
Author(s):  
Olofin Olabode Philip
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Unit Root Test ◽  
West African ◽  
Poverty Level ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Financial Depth ◽  
Empirical Estimators ◽  
First And Second Generation ◽  
Heterogeneous Panel

This paper re-examines the effects of different types of foreign aid on poverty level in 8 West African countries between 1975 and 2010 by employing both the first and second generation econometrics methods of panel unit root test, cointegration test and empirical estimators with heterogeneous slopes. Our results suggest that total foreign aid and food aid impact positively on poverty, while technical aid reduces poverty. Apart from total foreign aid, none of the results was statistically significant. The results show negative relationship among poverty, life expectancy, foreign direct investment, per capita GDP and financial depth, but they were not statistically significant. This suggests that their impacts on poverty in West Africa were minimal.

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