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Aid Fragmentation and Effectiveness: What Do We Really Know?

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  • Gehring, Kai
  • Michaelowa, Katharina
  • Dreher, Axel
  • Spörri, Franziska
Abstract
Aid fragmentation is widely recognized as being detrimental to development outcomes. We reinvestigate the impact of fragmentation in the context of growth, bureaucratic policy, and education, focusing on a number of conceptually different indicators of fragmentation, and paying attention to potentially heterogeneous effects across countries, sectors, and channels of influence. Our systematic and detailed reexamination of existing empirical studies shows that this differentiation is crucial. In some sectors—such as primary education—donor concentration or limiting donor numbers appear to be detrimental rather than beneficial for development outcomes. In other areas, we find the expected negative effect, but only when we conceptualize fragmentation as a lack of lead donors (too limited concentration), rather than in terms of donor numbers. In all cases, sufficient initial administrative capacity in recipient countries prevents the negative and reinforces the positive effects of fragmentation. This stresses the importance of questioning the sweeping conclusions drawn by much of the previous literature. Based on what we currently know, generalizing judgments about the effect of aid fragmentation may be misleading.

Suggested Citation

  • Gehring, Kai & Michaelowa, Katharina & Dreher, Axel & Spörri, Franziska, 2017. "Aid Fragmentation and Effectiveness: What Do We Really Know?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 320-334.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:99:y:2017:i:c:p:320-334
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.05.019
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    Cited by:

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    3. Terence Wood & Imogen Nicholls, 2021. "Aid fragmentation and volatility in the Pacific," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 114-128, January.
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    5. Emmanuelle Auriol & Josepa Miquel-Florensa, 2019. "Taxing fragmented aid to improve aid efficiency," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 453-477, September.
    6. Philip Keefer & Christopher Kilby, 2021. "Introduction to the special issue: In memoriam Stephen Knack," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 473-493, July.
    7. Milena Lopreite & Michelangelo Puliga & Massimo Riccaboni, 2018. "The Global Health Networks: A Comparative Analysis of Tuberculosis, Malaria and Pneumonia Using Social Media Data," Working Papers 01/2018, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, revised Jan 2018.
    8. Sven Steinkamp & Frank Westermann, 2022. "Development aid and illicit capital flight: Evidence from Nepal," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(7), pages 2305-2336, July.
    9. Klaus H. Goetz & Ronny Patz & Katharina Michaelowa, 2017. "Resourcing International Organisations: So What?," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8, pages 113-123, August.
    10. Angelika J. Budjan & Andreas Fuchs, 2021. "Democracy and Aid Donorship," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 217-238, November.
    11. R. Melis Baydag & Stephan Klingebiel, 2023. "Partner country selection between development narratives and self‐interests: A new method for analysing complex donor approaches," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 1199-1223, May.
    12. Dreher, Axel & Lang, Valentin & Reinsberg, Bernhard, 2024. "Aid effectiveness and donor motives," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    13. Ben Cormier, 2023. "Chinese or western finance? Transparency, official credit flows, and the international political economy of development," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 297-328, April.
    14. Alain Le Roy & Jean-Michel Severino, 2023. "Diversification and fragmentation of public financing for development WP321 [Diversification et fragmentation du financement public du développement WP321]," Working Papers hal-04120982, HAL.
    15. Matthew S. Winters, 2019. "Too many cooks in the kitchen?: The division of financing in World Bank projects and project performance," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-6, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Cormier, Benjamin, 2023. "Chinese or western finance? Transparency, official credit flows, and the international political economy of development," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115294, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Subhani Keerthiratne & Richard S.J. Tol, 2018. "Foreign Aid Concentration and Natural Disasters," Working Paper Series 0218, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    18. repec:bla:glopol:v:8:y:2017:i:s5:p:113-123 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Andrew W. Horowitz & Raja Kali & Hongwei Song, 2021. "Rethinking the aid–growth relationship: A network approach," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 359-380, February.
    20. Humphrey, Chris & Michaelowa, Katharina, 2019. "China in Africa: Competition for traditional development finance institutions?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 15-28.
    21. Alain Le Roy & Jean-Michel Severino, 2023. "Diversification and fragmentation of public financing for development WP321," Working Papers hal-04121908, HAL.

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