Evolution in the aid delivery and aid effectiveness debate – A Working Paper

Michael Tribe

Working Papers from Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow

Abstract: The paper aims provide detail for some of the principal changes in the structure of aid delivery since the 1960s. A significant part of the discussion is based on statistics which illustrate many of these changes in terms of the various sources of aid (OECD DAC countries, Non-DAC countries, Multilateral Agencies, and private donors). The main data sources are the OECD QWIDS webpage (OECD 2023 and 2024b) and the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (World Bank 2024). It also discusses changes in the allocation of ODA (Official Development Assistance) between directly productive, economic infrastructure, social infrastructure, humanitarian, security and ‘emergency’ sectors over these years. A distinction is made between different categories of ‘development finance’ including ODA, Official Development Finance (ODF), Other Official Finance (OOF) and lending on more commercial terms. The term ‘emerging donors’ is discussed, and the various dimensions of these donors are explored. Within a somewhat shorter time period (mainly 2000-2020) the changing institutional complexity of the ‘aid sector’ is described and the implications of this are explored, together with the changing priorities and objectives of ‘traditional donors’. In part the changing structure and priorities of the aid sector reflect international socio-economic events including natural and man-made disasters, international migration of various types, and changing perceptions of how aid ‘works’. The debate relating to ‘aid effectiveness’ is reviewed critically, and the issues relating to the ‘decolonisation’ of aid are explored briefly. One of the principal conclusions is that the ‘aid sector’ has changed enormously from the character which it had just after the Second World War when the need to address the problems of ‘less developed countries’ was first officially articulated. This change has been continuous, so that more recent significant changes follow on within the evolution of the sector.

Keywords: Economic Development; International Linkages to Development, Role of International Organizations; Development Planning and Policy; Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Development; International Trade, Finance, Investment, and Aid (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O1 O19 O2 O23 P45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg and nep-his
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gla:glaewp:2024_06

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