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Publications (45)
Research Brief
pdf
– The Impact of Development Aid and Democracy Assistance
Development aid was effective in promoting democratic transitions during the 1990s in African countries beset by economic crisis domestic discontent, and a high dependency on aid. Development aid also influenced democratic transition indirectly through conditionalities that required unpopular...
Research Brief
– What Does the Evidence Say?
Donors are concerned about how their aid is used, especially how it affects public spending. For low-income countries that receive significant amounts of aid relative to GDP, most of the aid spent in the country is given to the government either directly, or by financing services that would...
Research Brief
– Exploring the Fatal Flaw
Aid to Haiti has not been effective due to failure of the country’s political and economic elites to participate and assist in the development process. US foreign policy has in some cases reinforced the tendency for elites to personally profit from aid initiatives. Haiti has received more than US$20...
– How to support effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions for sustainable development?
Aiding government effectiveness in developing countries has been a priority issue for the international donor community since the 1990s. With the Paris Declaration in 1994, donors further committed to aiding government effectiveness in a manner consistent with local ownership and harmonization with...
Research Brief
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– A Trade-Off Between Governance and Democracy?
In Mozambique donors have shifted focus from project aid to budget support in an effort to reform the public sector and ‘justice, legality and public order’. While budget support has increased state capacity and helped Mozambique’s donor community find common ground, it has had a negative impact on...
Research Brief
It is predicted that the global financial crisis will negatively affect developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa both through a reduction in Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) caused by the shrinking (or stagnating) of the economies of many major donors, and by a reduction in overseas trade due...
– The impact on equality in South Africa
The impact of medical deductions and medical credits on income inequality is a subject of discussion in South Africa, as well as in many other countries, raising critical questions about the fairness of the medical tax system and the impact on affordability for the poor. An in-depth analysis of...
Research Brief
The civil service is the backbone of the state, and can either support or undermine a country’s entire system of governance. Donor’s recognize this important fact and have often tried to promote civil service reform in the countries they are providing aid to. However these attempts have all too...
Research Brief
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Afghanistan has received vast amounts of development aid, but results may not be sufficiently robust. There is a limited menu of acceptable options for institutional arrangements, leading to a high dependence on external resources, technical expertise, and institutional models. There is not a...
Research Brief
– The Role of Politics
In the WIDER Working Paper ‘Vertical Decentralization and Urban Service Delivery in South Africa: Does Politics Matter?’ Robert Cameron looks at the ways in which politics affects decentralization and service delivery in South Africa. To do this he looks at Cape Town, which is controlled by the...
Research Brief
– Achievements and Challenges
President Yayi Boni of Benin was one of the eight African leaders invited to attended the May 2012 G8 summit at Camp David to discuss the issue of food security. This is perhaps an indication that the country is doing something right, at least from the perspective of its donors in the developed...
Development assistance to fragile states and conflict-affected areas is a core component of peacebuilding. It includes support for the restoration of core government functions, delivery of basic services, the rule of law, and economic revitalization. Yet, while aid has been among the largest...
Along with several other African countries, Zambia has introduced a withholding system for value-added tax (VAT) to improve revenue collection and compliance. Even though VAT withholding policies are applied in several countries in Africa and similar industry-specific policies in Europe, empirical...
Research Brief
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Favouritism of government controlled councils is most distinct through interference in local politics rather than through funding mechanisms. The motivation of central government intervention in land deals is two-fold - their actions can be explicitly motivated by politics and self-interest or they...
Research Brief
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Aid has had positive effect on growth and poverty reduction on average in the long term. There is no evidence of aid systematically increasing infl ation or reducing the amount of credit available to private industry. In general aid that is channeled to human capital appears to be effective at...
Research Brief
– Democratic Consolidation in Africa
Foreign Aid and Democratic Development in Africa The past twenty years have seen donors increasingly linking foreign aid to democracy objectives in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the same period many countries in the region have adopted multi-party political systems, perhaps the minimum condition required...
Policy Brief
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Policy coherence implies that donors in pursuing domestic policy objectives should avoid adversely affecting the development prospects of poor countries. To achieve policy coherence donors and multilateral institutions need to ensure security and political stability; foresee the impacts of...
– A pathway to effective tax collection in South Africa
Many governments, particularly those in developing countries, have set an objective to improve tax revenue mobilization to offer more and better public services to their citizens. To develop effective revenue-raising strategies it is necessary to determine whether there is a tax revenue gap and gain...
Research Brief
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The three goals of promoting development, adaptation to climate change, and climate change mitigation are in reality inseparable policy areas and as such there is a compelling case for addressing them simultaneously. Climate finance aimed at helping developing countries to make adaptations to deal...
The design and implementation of effective aid policy requires a deeper understanding of the impact of aid and the overall environment in which development aid operates. This policy brief addresses four areas which are key to understanding how aid works: the relationship between aid and economic...
Research Brief
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Transitional justice processes often fail to adequately deal with gender issues. Attempting to deal with gender-based violence during periods of transitional justice is often seen as destabilizing and a threat to future stability. Women’s rights are still often seen as yielding rights that have to...
Research Brief
As the country’s oil production shifts into gear, Ghana’s new status as a middle-income country is bound to see a reduction in official development assistance (ODA) in the medium to long term. This emerging oil industry will most likely provide a stimulus for increased net foreign direct investment...
Policy Brief
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– Issues and Institutions
This policy brief is intended to outline suggestions and stimulate discussion at a time when the world community is thinking about, and is engaged in, a debate on global governance. The policy brief not only focuses on the reform of existing institutions, but also proposes new institutions that are...
Research Brief
If food aid is to be more effective donors need to consider both the goals of the aid, and its economic implications. In May 2012, shortly before the annual G8 summit, the Obama administration announced the ‘New Alliance for Food Security’. The project enlists 45 private companies who are to invest...
Large food price fluctuations—caused primarily by extreme weather events, market disruptions, investor behaviour and government policy—began in the world market in 2007 and presented serious challenges for governments, private traders, farmers and consumers. A collaborative project between Cornell...
Research Brief
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The recent food price crisis and the responses of the policy makers in developing countries provide an unprecedented opportunity to analyse the policy processes in these countries. Policy responses differed depending on the nature and magnitude of the roles of various actors, political institutions...
Research Brief
After sixtyyears of foreign aid efforts and dramatic change in the world of aid recipients, many concerns are being raised about the effectiveness of current aid programmes to developing countries. The appropriateness of aid is particularly questionable when considering the character of the...
Research Brief
In the WIDER Working Paper ‘Decentralized Service Delivery in Nairobi and Mombasa: Policies, politics and inter-governmental relations’ Winnie V. Mitullah assesses the major obstacles to providing critical services, such as solid waste management and water, in Nairobi and Mombasa. She argues that...
Research Brief
The donor community is becoming increasingly focused on two goals; increasing aid supply and improving aid effectiveness. These two goals are clearly interdependent as in order for aid to be increased both politicians and the public must be convinced that it is being used effectively. Despite this...
Policy Brief
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The volume Institutional Change and Economic Development fills some important gaps in our understanding of the relationship between institutional changes and economic development. It does so by developing new discourses on the 'technology of institution building' and by providing detailed case...
Research Brief
In a recent UNU-WIDER working paper 'Fiscal composition and aid effectiveness: A political-economy model' Paul Mosley examines the claim that aid would have, in the long term, a negative impact on productivity and stability of expenditure in recipient countries, due to its tendency to undermine tax...
Research Brief
– An Empirical Analysis
Left-of-centre governments emphasized fiscally-prudent but more equitable macroeconomic, tax, social expenditure and labour policies A drop in the premium paid to skilled workers following a rapid expansion of secondary education decreased wage inequality Addressing continued inequality In recent...
Displaying 32 of 45 results