Choosing aid: when do states becomes donors?

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Date

2016

Authors

Kazhikenova, Aisulu

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Publisher

Nazarbayev University School of Sciences and Humanities

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to investigate the conditions under which states become foreign aid donors. While the number of aid donors has dramatically increased in recent years, we know little about when states choose to become donors. By extending two existing theories of foreign aid allocations, I argue that there are three key factors driving states to give aid: the level of individual income, the overall level of governmental resources, and the size of winning coalition. I test these hypotheses using a newly collected data on states’ donorship. The statistical findings suggest that states are more likely to become foreign aid donors when the level of their citizens’ income and their governmental resources increase, providing support for my hypotheses. Surprisingly, the findings also suggest that states with smaller winning coalitions are more likely to become aid donors. It is contrary to the expectations that democratic regimes are primary donors of foreign aid. This thesis contributes to the literature on foreign aid by examining a new question about aid initiations, offering a new dataset on aid donorship, and providing statistical evidence that calls for new theoretical explanations.

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Keywords

foreign aid, aid donorship, Official Development Assistance, emerging donors, aid-for-charity model, aid-for-policy deals model

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