scholarly journals Reassessing the Efficacy of Foreign Aid and Grants in Poverty Reduction in Nigeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 450-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
ersoo Shimonkabir SHITILE ◽  
Abubakar SULE
2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1689-1710
Author(s):  
Eric Akobeng

PurposeThis paper examines the relationship between foreign aid, institutional democracy and poverty. The paper explores the direct effect of foreign aid on poverty and quantifies the facilitating role of democracy in harnessing foreign aid for poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).Design/methodology/approachThe paper attempts to address the endogenous relationship between foreign aid and poverty by employing the two-stage least squares instrumental variable (2SLS-IV) estimator by using GDP per capita of the top five Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries sending foreign aid to SSA countries scaled by the inverse of the land area of the SSA countries to stimulate an exogenous variation in foreign aid and its components. The initial level of democracy is interacted with the senders’ GDP per capita to also instrument for the interaction terms of democracy, foreign aid and its components.FindingsThe results suggest that foreign aid reduces poverty and different components of foreign aid have different effects on poverty. In particular, multilateral source and grant type seem to be more significant in reducing poverty than bilateral source and loan type. The study further reveals that democratic attributes of free expression, institutional constraints on the executive, guarantee of civil liberties to citizens and political participation reinforce the poverty-reducing effects of aggregate foreign aid and its components after controlling for mean household income, GDP per capita and inequality.Research limitations/implicationsThe methodological concern related to modeling the effects of foreign aid on poverty is endogeneity bias. To estimate the relationship between foreign aid, democracy and poverty in SSA, this paper relies on a 2SLS-IV estimator with GDP per capita of the top five aid-sending OECD countries scaled by the inverse of land area of the SSA countries as an external instrument for foreign aid. The use of the five top OECD's Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) countries is due to the availability of foreign aid data for these countries. However, non-OECD-DAC countries such as China and South Africa may be important source of foreign aid to some SSA countries.Practical implicationsThe findings further suggest that the marginal effect of foreign aid in reducing poverty is increasing with the level of institutional democracy. In other words, foreign aid contributes more to poverty reduction in countries with democratic dispensation. This investigation has vital implications for future foreign aid policy, because it alerts policymakers that the effectiveness of foreign aid can be strengthened by considering the type and source of aid. Foreign aid and quality political institution may serve as an important mix toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and the Africa Union Agenda 2063.Social implicationsAs the global economy faces economic and social challenges, SSA may not be able to depend heavily on foreign partners to finance the region's budget. There is the need for African governments to also come out with innovative ways to mobilize own resources to develop and confront some of the economic challenges to achieve the required reduction in poverty. This is a vision that every country in Africa must work toward. Africa must think of new ways of generating wealth internally for development so as to complement foreign aid flows and also build strong foundation for welfare improvement, self-reliance and sustainable development.Originality/valueThis existing literature does not consider how democracy enhances the foreign aid and poverty relationship. The existing literature does not explore how democracy enhances grants, loans, multilateral and bilateral aid effectiveness in reducing poverty. This paper provides the first-hand evidence of how institutional democracy enhances the poverty-reducing effects of foreign aid and its components. The paper uses exogenous variation in foreign aid to quantify the direct effect of foreign aid and its components on poverty.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1625741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmore Mahembe ◽  
Nicholas M. Odhiambo

Author(s):  
Anjay Kumar Mishra ◽  
P. S. Aithal

Purpose: Development needs fund and foreign aid is one of the majour source of fund for developing countries. The Paper aims to analyse the trends and composition of foreign aids with case reference to the Swiss aid. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is based on secondary data from 2001/02 to 2014/15.Descriptive statistics has been applied to develop the trends and compositions. Findings/Result: In FY 2014/15, the total foreign aid commitment increased by totaling to Rs.1195.5 million as compared to Rs.2125.9 million in FY 2014/15. Of the total commitment in FY 2014/15 the contribution of bilateral aid was totaling and multilateral aid contributed. While categorizing the total foreign aid the share of grant assistance constituted and loan assistance million. In FY 2014/15 the foreign grant assistant subsequently increased by whereas foreign loan assistance decreased. The bilateral aid disbursement was out of total bilateral aid commitment. Multilateral aid disbursement was 56 percent. The amount of loan is increasing in the economy. This condition also indicates that in future debt burden in budgetary system is directly reducing the development expenditure which decreases the flow of budget in poverty reduction sectors. In amount Swiss aid is much less but is efficiency is widespread in increasing people's living standard. Due to 100% grant Swiss aid doesn't create fiscal burden in the economy. Originality/Value: it is an empirical research to signify the urgency of increasing Swiss aid and Swiss project in Nepal for sustained and broad-based economic development. Paper Type: Analytical Policy Research


2007 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Prokopijevic

The main point of this paper is that foreign aid fails because the structure of its incentives resembles that of central planning. Aid is not only ineffective, it is arguably counterproductive. Contrary to business firms that are paid by those they are supposed to serve (customers), aid agencies are paid by tax payers of developed countries and not by those they serve. This inverse structure of incentives breaks the stream of pressure that exists on the commercial market. It also creates larger loopholes in the principle-agent relationship on each point along the chain of aid delivery. Both factors enhance corruption, moral hazard and negative selection. Instead of promoting development, aid extends the life of bad institutions and those in power. Proposals to reform foreign aid ? like aid privatization and aid conditionality ? do not change the existing structure of the incentives in aid delivery, and their implementation may just slightly improve aid efficacy. Larger improvement is not possible. For that reason, foreign aid will continue to be a waste of resources, probably serving some objectives different to those that are usually mentioned, like recipient?s development poverty reduction and pain relief.


2013 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ozgur Kaya ◽  
Ilker Kaya ◽  
Lewell Gunter

Author(s):  
Marcelo M. Giugale

There is much discussion about global poverty and the billions of people living with almost nothing. Why is it that governments, development banks, think-tanks, academics, NGOs and many others can't just fix the problem? Why is it that seemingly obvious reforms never happen? Why are prosperity and equity so elusive? The revised second edition of Economic Development: What Everyone Needs to Know® brings readers right into the trenches of development policies to show what practitioners are actually doing and explains the issues, dilemmas, options, frustrations and opportunities they face, day in and day out. In straightforward language and a question-and-answer format, Marcelo M. Giugale outlines the frontier of the development practice or, as he puts it, "...the point at which knowledge stops and ignorance begins." He takes readers from why it is so difficult to get governments to function, to the basic policies that economies need to work well, the powerful new tools for social assistance, and the challenges of inclusion, education, health, infrastructure, technology, data, and foreign aid. Giugale gives no definitive, universal answers. They don't really exist. Rather, he highlights what works, what doesn't, and what's promising. Drawing from examples across the world, his overall message is clear: economic development, and the poverty reduction that goes with it, have never been more possible for more countries.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (12) ◽  
pp. 40-49
Author(s):  
Patience Nnenna Okoronkwo ◽  
Ojo Olawole Victor ◽  
Adewumi Eyitayo

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