Publication

This paper analyzes private and official German aid, particularly motivations, merit and needs in recipient countries as perceived by the German donor community. The authors use Tobit models to assess the relative importance of recipient need, merit and self-interest of donors across a large sample of recipient countries in 2005-2007. They find that aid channels differ significantly in the extent to which these individual concerns play a role in aid allocation. There is no clear superiority among aid channels, although the authors note that political support through the UN General Assembly results in more targeted aid flows.