Abstract:
The Netherlands and also the European Union attempt to influence migration flows into the European Union by disbursing Official Development Assistance. This raises the question whether this is a method that is appropriate to reach this goal. This study investigates whether migration flows from African countries into the European Union can be affected by ODA disbursements by applying a fixed-effects model to data from 54 countries over a time span of 16 years. Moreover, this study will shed additional light on the so-called budgetary constraint hypothesis by also looking at the relationship between inequality and migration. Additionally, this study includes a more detailed analysis than previous studies of the workings of the various ODA sectors. The main outcome of the study is that, with the exception of a few sectors, no effects can be found between ODA and migration. Another outcome is that inequality seems to play a role, but to which extent remains unclear. These results bring in the question whether policies attempting to influence migration flows by disbursing ODA continue to make sense.
