Development Aid Flashcards
what is aid?
gov transfers to poor countries for dev purposes
what is Official Development Assistance (ODA)?
gov aid to promote econ dev and welfare
- foreign aid ‘gold standard’
- recipients: countries and multilateral dev institutions
- donors: state or executive agencies
- give: concessional grants and soft loans
if an economic actor finances for profits/investment and indirectly finances dev, is that aid or trade?
trade
if a state directly invests or trades, but not concesionally, is that aid or trade? (e.g. China in Africa)
trade
what are the motives to provide aid?
- humanitarian motives: moral duty
- enlightened self-interest
- political and strategic moves
- economic motives
what are humanitarian motives to provide aid?
moral duty
- needs based
- for poorest
- in practice: most aid is actually to middle income countries, so not to poorest (so not a needs perspective)
what are enlightened self-interest motives to provide aid?
- to prevent spill over of poverty to adv countries
- so steer aid to countries presenting challenges
- usually regional
- not a ‘needs perspective’
what are the political and strategic motives to provide aid?
- towards allies
- towards those in conflict or important in preventing conflict
- towards former colonies
- not a needs perspective
what are the economic motives to provide aid?
- towards those with econ. potential, attractive markets, strategic commodities needed by donors
- mutual interest
- conditions tied (tied aid)
what are the different channels for aid?
- bilateral channel: gov -> gov
(biggest ODA share; 65% - 70%) - multilateral channel: UN, IFIs, regional dev banks…
(middle ODA share; 25% - 205%) - civil lateral or non-gov channel: NGOs, co-financed by govs
(smaller share; 5% - 10%)
what are the features of bilateral aid?
gov to gov
- visibility and profile for indiv. donors
- alignment with pol/strategic/security interests
what are the features of multilateral aid?
UN, IFIs..
- neutral, apolitical
- universality of allocation criteria
- large-scale possible
- specialized agencies build up know-how (WTO, UNDP)
what are features of civil lateral or non-gov aid?
NGOs, co-financed by govs
- smaller scale
- closer to poor
- commitment and non-profit orientation
how much aid is given, relative to other financial flows (investment)
very little
who is the main recipient of aid?
middle income countries