Riassunto analitico
Foreign aid has been a critical component of international development for several decades. Developed countries provide financial, technical, and humanitarian assistance to developing countries to address various challenges such as poverty, hunger, health, education, and infrastructure. However, the effectiveness of foreign aid in achieving its intended objectives has been widely debated. While proponents argue that aid has helped reduce poverty and improve socio-economic conditions in recipient countries, critics question its sustainability, accountability, and impact on local economies.
This thesis seeks to understand which are the factors that influence the allocation of these resources, by analysing the more exploited tool of foreign aid, Official Development Assistance (ODA). The determinants studied include various factors, starting from an economic side and ending on human development. Hence, the present thesis analyses the determinants of Official development assistance by using a sample composed of 80 low- and middle-income recipient countries from 1997 to 2021. The econometric methodologies used for calculation are Ordinary Least Squares and Fixed-Effect models. The main result, robust to both specifications, is that GDP per capita and population are negatively correlated with aid transfers.
The first chapter reviews the literature related to the topic, underlying why and how the chosen variables are possible determinants for Official development assistance. The second illustrates data and descriptive statistics. The third chapter presents the empirical methodology applied. The fourth part presents, comments, and interprets regression coefficients. Finally, all useful results are collected and, again based on the insights offered by the previous theory, conclusions are drawn in the last chapter, explaining the considerations deduced by the present thesis.
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Abstract
Foreign aid has been a critical component of international development for several decades. Developed countries provide financial, technical, and humanitarian assistance to developing countries to address various challenges such as poverty, hunger, health, education, and infrastructure. However, the effectiveness of foreign aid in achieving its intended objectives has been widely debated. While proponents argue that aid has helped reduce poverty and improve socio-economic conditions in recipient countries, critics question its sustainability, accountability, and impact on local economies.
This thesis seeks to understand which are the factors that influence the allocation of these resources, by analysing the more exploited tool of foreign aid, Official Development Assistance (ODA). The determinants studied include various factors, starting from an economic side and ending on human development. Hence, the present thesis analyses the determinants of Official development assistance by using a sample composed of 80 low- and middle-income recipient countries from 1997 to 2021. The econometric methodologies used for calculation are Ordinary Least Squares and Fixed-Effect models. The main result, robust to both specifications, is that GDP per capita and population are negatively correlated with aid transfers.
The first chapter reviews the literature related to the topic, underlying why and how the chosen variables are possible determinants for Official development assistance. The second illustrates data and descriptive statistics. The third chapter presents the empirical methodology applied. The fourth part presents, comments, and interprets regression coefficients. Finally, all useful results are collected and, again based on the insights offered by the previous theory, conclusions are drawn in the last chapter, explaining the considerations deduced by the present thesis.
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