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New Directions in Foreign Aid. Steven Radelet Center for Global Development June 6, 2005. Some Criticisms of Aid. 1. No effect on growth and development 2. Poorly allocated 3. Too many objectives 4. Too bureaucratic 5. Too little local ownership or participation
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New Directions in Foreign Aid Steven Radelet Center for Global Development June 6, 2005
Some Criticisms of Aid 1. No effect on growth and development 2. Poorly allocated 3. Too many objectives 4. Too bureaucratic 5. Too little local ownership or participation 6. Lack of harmonization & coordination 7. Not performance-based 8. Too little funding, and too little predictability in funding
Three Views on Aid and Growth • No relationship, or a negative relationship • Conditional relationship: • Depends on recipients (good governance; strong policies) • Depends on donors • Positive relationship, on average, with diminishing returns
Disaggregating aid Net aid = gross aid– repayments = “short-impact” aid + “long-impact” aid + humanitarian aid– repayments From: Clemens, Radelet, and Bhavnani, “Counting Chickens When They Hatch: The Short-Term Effect of Aid on Growth,” Center for Global Development
Basic Aid Data (2004):Official Flows • Global official development assistance (ODA) from major donors: $79 billion • US: $19 billion – the largest • 24% of the total • US constitutes 40% of total donor income • 0.16% of US income – 21st (of 22) • Assistance to other countries (e.g., Israel, Russia) – not considered development assistance - $1.5 billion.
Largest recipients of US foreign assistance in 2004 (millions) • Iraq $2,944 • Afghanistan $875 • Egypt $602 • Colombia $500 • Russia $671 • Israel $499 • Ethiopia $410 • Jordan $372 • Sudan $351 • Peru $212
Some New Directions • Less emphasis on traditional conditionality; more on selectivity and achieving results • More emphasis on country ownership and local participation • Much discussion (but less action) on harmonization & coordination
Two broad trends • Budget, program, or sector-wide support (SWAps, baskets) • Issue specific initiatives: • Global Fund • HIV/AIDS programs • Education for All
Millennium Challenge Account:Basic concepts • Select a small number of recipient countries based on their commitment to: • “Ruling justly” • “Investing in people” • “Establishing economic freedom” • Provide them with large sums of money, • Give them more say in designing aid-funded programs, and • Hold them accountable for achieving results.
Qualification Requirements • Score above the median on: • 3 of 6 “ruling justly” indicators. Countries must be above the median on corruption to qualify. • 2 of 4 “investing in people” indicators • 3 of 6 “establishing economic freedom” indicators. (Inflation: 15% rather than the median)
17 countries selected in 2004 Selected: Armenia, Benin, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Georgia, Ghana, Honduras, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, Morocco Mozambique, Nicaragua, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Vanuatu Exceptions: Added: Bolivia, Georgia, Mozambique Dropped: Bhutan, Guyana, Mauritania, Philippines, Swaziland, and Vietnam