eprintid: 19769
rev_number: 18
eprint_status: archive
userid: 2744
dir: disk0/00/01/97/69
datestamp: 2015-11-12 11:13:32
lastmod: 2015-11-30 13:34:30
status_changed: 2015-11-12 11:13:32
type: workingPaper
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Fuchs, Andreas
creators_name: Richert, Katharina
title: Do Development Minister Characteristics Affect Aid Giving?
subjects: ddc-330
divisions: i-181000
keywords: development minister, leadership, foreign aid, Official Development Assistance, aid budget, aid quality, personal characteristics, gender, partisan politics, experience
abstract: 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.

date: 2015-11
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00019769
schriftenreihe_cluster_id: sr-3
schriftenreihe_order: 0604
ppn_swb: 1653298952
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-197694
language: eng
bibsort: FUCHSANDREDODEVELOPM201511
full_text_status: public
series: Discussion Paper Series, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics
volume: 0604
place_of_pub: Heidelberg
pages: 45
citation:   Fuchs, Andreas ; Richert, Katharina  (2015) Do Development Minister Characteristics Affect Aid Giving?  [Working paper]     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/19769/1/Fuchs_Richert_2015_dp604.pdf