Egoism and altruism: within-donor determinants of Official Development Assistance
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2024-07-12
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en
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This study aims to advance the currently limited state of quantitative research into domestic determinants that impact quantity of development assistance provided by donor states. International Relations theories generally offer either egoistic or altruistic explanations for development assistance, which here are linked to different within-donor determinants. This study uses a panel data set consisting of twenty-seven members of the Development Assistance Committee over 2000-2018 to analyze to what extent these factors affect Official Development Assistance (ODA) effort. Against expectations, the analysis finds no significant effect of corporatism and type of political system on ODA effort. Results show that gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate impacts ODA effort negatively for Western European donors, whereas GDP growth rate has a positive effect on ODA for Eastern European donors. Moreover, right-wing parties correspond to higher ODA effort in Eastern Europe, while government ideology lacks a significant effect on ODA in Western Europe. Speculated hypotheses for further qualitative research are offered for these effects. Theoretically, the findings tend to support the egoistic reading of foreign aid, informed by realist and post-development approaches, rather than the altruistic reading suggested by liberal and constructivist approaches. In any case, the results demonstrate that suitable consideration should be given to within-donor dynamics when studying foreign aid.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen