TY  - GEN
Y1  - 2015/11//
UR  - https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/19769/
A1  - Fuchs, Andreas
A1  - Richert, Katharina
AV  - public
ID  - heidok19769
KW  - development minister
KW  -  leadership
KW  -  foreign aid
KW  -  Official Development Assistance
KW  -  aid budget
KW  -  aid quality
KW  -  personal characteristics
KW  -  gender
KW  -  partisan politics
KW  -  experience
EP  - 45
CY  - Heidelberg
TI  - Do Development Minister Characteristics Affect Aid Giving?
T3  - Discussion Paper Series, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics
N2  - Over 300 government members have had the main responsibility for international development cooperation in 23 member countries of the OECD?s Development Assistance Committee since the organization started reporting detailed Official Development Assistance (ODA) data in 1967. Understanding their role in foreign aid giving is crucial since their decisions might directly impact aid effectiveness and thus economic development on the ground. Our study examines whether development ministers? personal characteristics influence aid budgets and aid quality. To this end, we create a novel database on development ministers? gender, political ideology, prior professional experience in development cooperation, education in economics, and time in office over the 1967-2012 period. Results from fixed-effects panel regressions show that some of the personal characteristics of development ministers matter. Most notably, we find that more experienced ministers with respect to their time in office obtain larger aid budgets. Moreover, there is evidence that female ministers as well as officeholders with prior professional experience in development cooperation and a longer time in office provide higher-quality ODA.

ER  -