Do performance measures of donors' aid allocation underperform?

Clist, Paul ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9338-9446 (2015) Do performance measures of donors' aid allocation underperform? The World Economy, 38 (5). 805–824. ISSN 0378-5920

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Abstract

Indices of donor performance abound. Their recent popularity has occurred within the context of pessimism over aid's impact and optimism over the effect of changes in donor behaviour. Rankings of donor allocative performance aim to change donor behaviour, either through direct pressure on governments or indirectly through public engagement. The indices themselves rely on descriptive measures, and typically claim methodological superiority over positive alternatives due to their simplicity. However, there are two problems. First, measures do not seem robust to simple variations in methodology. Second, correlation amongst competing indices is low, leading to a host of contradictory judgements. This offers neither clear technical guidance nor consistent political pressure. The advantages and disadvantages of the approach are discussed, building upon the more general critique of aggregate indices. I suggest a graphical solution that embraces the advantages of the descriptive approach (including ease of public communication) while avoiding some of its major weaknesses (which typically stem from aggregation).

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2014 The Authors The World Economy Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Uncontrolled Keywords: aid allocation,donor performance,ranking,index
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > School of International Development
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Experimental Economics (former - to 2017)
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Impact Evaluation
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural and Experimental Development Economics
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Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 25 Jul 2014 13:56
Last Modified: 13 Jun 2023 08:16
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/48293
DOI: 10.1111/twec.12165

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