Aid From the
World Bank
Caroline Williams
Research Question
What
is the effect of a
country’s involvement in
international organizations (IOs)
on the aid it receives from the
World Bank?
Hypothesis
More
IOs = More Aid
World Bank Aid vs. Involvement in IOs
World
Bank
Aid
Involvement in IOs
Argument
 Barnett
and Abbott- IOs facilitate
agreements
 Williams- World Bank looks at
credible commitment status
 World Bank- says IOs are something
they look at (how much?)
Baseline Specification 1
 UN
Security Council Preference
 World
aid
 Main
Bank shown to be focusing
World Bank Powers have
control
Baseline Specification 2
IOs
 democratization
willingness to reform
IOs help regulate economic
activity
Most similar to my hypothesis
Methodology
World Bank Aid Data
+
Involvement in IOs
Results: Control Variables
 foreign
reserves
 temporary member on the UNSC
Security Council
 population
 IMF loan
 GDP per capita
Results
 1st:
no control all positive correlation
 2nd:
 3rd:
all control economic IOs significant
all significant control economic IOs
significant
Conclusions and Implications
 Did
not get expected results
(Baseline Specification 1)
 Only economic IOs significant
 All countries
 Daniela Donno- conditional
Future Work
 Specific
Regions
 Specific International Organizations
 Qualitative Data
 Case Studies
Take Aways
 My
hypothesis: More IOs= More Aid
 Results: Positive Correlation without the
control variables
 But only economic IOs show overall
significance to be
 Future work could make the project more
specific
Works Cited
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Abbott, K. W., and D. Snidal. "Why States Act through Formal
International Organizations.”Journal of Conflict Resolution 42.1 (1998): 3-32.
Barnett, Michael N., and Martha Finnemore. "The Politics, Power, and
Pathologies of International Organizations." International Organization
53.4 (1999): 699-732.
Donno, Daniela. "Who Is Punished? Regional Intergovernmental Organizations
and the Enforcement of Democratic Norms."
International
Organization 64.04 (2010): 593-625.
Dreher, A., J. Sturm, and J. Vreeland. "Development Aid and
International
Politics: Does Membership on the UN Security
Council Influence World
Bank Decisions?" Journal of Development
Economics 88.1 (2009): 118.
Mansfield, E. D., and J. C. Pevehouse. "Democratization and the
Varieties of International Organizations." Journal of Conflict
Resolution 52.2 (2008): 269-94.
Williams, David, and Tom Young. "Governance, the World Bank and Liberal
Theory." Political Studies 42.1 (1994): 84-100.