Transcript Australian foreign aid
WHAT MOTIVATES AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN AID?
• Humanitarianism • Political Interests • IMF voting power https://www.civcap.info/?id=84
RECIPIENT NEED AND DONOR INTEREST MODELS • McKinlay and Little • RN • DI
THE CASE FOR RN • AusAID • Poverty in Oceania • Findings for RN • McCawley • Gounder Center for International Earth Science Information Network.
Child Malnutrition
[map]. Scale not given. “Global Subnational Prevalence of Child Malnutrition, v1.” NASA Earth Data.
RESEARCH SUPPORTING DI • “Among the most egoistic” (Berthelemy 2006).
• Regional bias • Economic interests • Politics
INEFFECTIVE AID • Tied aid (Easterly and Williamson) • Food aid and technological assistance • AusAID rhetoric Pictures from Clip Art
INITIAL HYPOTHESIS AND TESTING FOR RN
If the mean GDPpc in Oceania is not lower than that of all of the other regions in the world, RN is not the only motivating factor in Australia’s aid.
GDP per capita in constant 2000 US $
Region*
Oceania
Observations
336 Africa 1895 World 5768 *Countries included are only those which receive aid.
Mean
1637.94
859.33
2849.11
SOURCE: WDI 2012
A BACKGROUND OF IMF VOTING BLOCS • Quotas • Electing executive board members
SOURCE: IMF Annual Report, various years
PRIMARY HYPOTHESIS
Australia channels its aid budget to the countries in its voting block to enlarge their quotas, and thereby its own power in the IMF.
DI VARIABLES • IV:
Australian Foreign Aid
• Main DV:
Membership in Australia’s IMF Bloc
• Control Variables: o Population o GDPpc o Trade
REGRESSION RESULTS CONFIRM HYPOTHESIS
Variable
aussieIMF population gdppercapita trade_k cons
Coef.
101.46
3.97E-08 -0.0011
8.39E-11 9.322
23.35
t
6.12
6.12
1.44
8.59
P>ltl
0 0.149
0 0 0 SOURCE: OECD 2012, WDI 2012
FURTHER RESEARCH • Additional control variables • Adverse humanitarian effects • Australia’s interest in the IMF
Australia’s foreign aid motivations are… • Not Recipient Need • Donor Interest • Tied to IMF voting power • Indicative of Australia’s international political strategy