Over the past few decades, the amounts allocated to development aid have risen considerably, from $86 billion in 2002 to $223 billion in 2023. Despite these colossal sums, development challenges remain, raising the question of aid effectiveness. Is it the size of the budgets allocated that is lacking, or the way in which this aid is spent? Economics researcher Nathalie Ferrière has explored this question.
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From $3.2 billion for Sudan to $20 billion for Ukraine, development aid figures regularly attract media attention. This aid is intended to respond to humanitarian crises or, in the longer term, to improve living conditions for populations in developing countries. It comes either from the public sector (official development assistance), or from the private sector (investments, private bilateral agreements or NGO donations).
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Is development aid really disinterested?
Born in the context of decolonization and the Cold War, the original aim of development aid was to rebalance development levels by financing concrete, sustainable projects: infrastructure, combating hunger, reducing mortality, improving education, and so on. This humanist vision, frequently put forward in public debate, is nevertheless often called into question.
Scientific studies have shown that development aid can be motivated as much by donors' political and strategic considerations as by the real needs of recipient countries. Researchers point to heterogeneity among donors: aid from Nordic countries seems more disinterested than that from former colonial powers such as France or the UK, who favor their former colonies1. As for the United States, its aid is driven more by economic and strategic considerations. From the outset, American aid was seen as a bulwark against communism and the fear of demographic explosion in the countries of the South.
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Article originally published in Dialogues Economiques on January 8, 2025.
Reference: Ferrière, N.,2024, "Filling the "Decency Gap"? Donors' Reaction to US Policy on International Family Planning Aid" The World Bank Economic Review, 38(1), 185-207.
Photo credit: © CC BY-ND Albert González Farran-UN, Darfur
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