Foreign Aid and (Big) Shocks: Evidence from Natural Disasters

Rabah Arezki, Youssouf Camara, Patrick Imam and Kangni Kpodar
Additional contact information
Rabah Arezki: John F. Kennedy School of Government - Harvard University, CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne, FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International
Youssouf Camara: McGill University = Université McGill [Montréal, Canada]
Patrick Imam: International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Kangni Kpodar: International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: We explore the effect of (big) shocks on the allocation of (bilateral) aid using natural disasters as natural experiments. We find that aid commitment statistically significantly increases following natural disasters, and that humanitarian aid precedes structural aid. While we find that the average effect is quantitatively significant, poorest countries or countries faced with most damaging natural disasters do not receive the most aid. We find no evidence that foreign aid commitment disburses faster following natural disasters. Further explorations into the mechanisms driving aid in disaster countries point to the importance of political alignment with (major) donors in recipient countries with low state capacity.

Keywords: Foreign aid; Bilateral aid; Disaster aid; Aid flows; Foreign aid commitment; Absorptive Capacity; Political alignment; Natural disasters; Aid allocation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-04-27
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-05603707

DOI: 10.5089/9798400299117.001

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().