WHAT MOTIVATES AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN AID?
• Humanitarianism
• Political Interests
• IMF voting power
https://www.civcap.info/?id=84
RECIPIENT NEED AND DONOR INTEREST MODELS
• McKinlay and Little
• RN
• DI
THE CASE FOR RN
• AusAID
• Poverty in Oceania
• Findings for RN
• McCawley
• Gounder
Center for International Earth Science Information Network. Child Malnutrition [map]. Scale
not given. “Global Subnational Prevalence of Child Malnutrition, v1.” NASA Earth Data.
<http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/set/povmap-global-subnational-prevalence-childmalnutritions/maps> (6 October 2012).
RESEARCH SUPPORTING DI
• “Among the most egoistic” (Berthelemy 2006).
• Regional bias
• Economic interests
• Politics
INEFFECTIVE AID
• Tied aid (Easterly and Williamson)
• Food aid and technological assistance
• AusAID rhetoric
Pictures from Clip Art
INITIAL HYPOTHESIS AND TESTING FOR RN
If the mean GDPpc in Oceania is not lower than that of
all of the other regions in the world, RN is not the only
motivating factor in Australia’s aid.
GDP per capita in constant 2000 US $
Region*
Observations
Oceania
336
Africa
1895
World
5768
Mean
1637.94
859.33
2849.11
*Countries included are only those which receive aid.
SOURCE: WDI 2012
A BACKGROUND OF IMF VOTING BLOCS
• Quotas
• Electing executive board members
SOURCE: IMF Annual Report, various years
PRIMARY HYPOTHESIS
Australia channels its aid budget to the countries in its
voting block to enlarge their quotas, and thereby its own
power in the IMF.
DI VARIABLES
• IV: Australian Foreign Aid
• Main DV: Membership in Australia’s IMF Bloc
• Control Variables:
oPopulation
oGDPpc
oTrade
REGRESSION RESULTS CONFIRM HYPOTHESIS
Variable
Coef.
t
P>ltl
aussieIMF
101.46
23.35
0
3.97E-08
6.12
0
-0.0011
6.12
0
8.39E-11
1.44
0.149
9.322
8.59
0
population
gdppercapita
trade_k
cons
SOURCE: OECD 2012, WDI 2012
FURTHER RESEARCH
• Additional control variables
• Adverse humanitarian effects
• Australia’s interest in the IMF
Australia’s foreign aid motivations are…
• Not Recipient Need
• Donor Interest
• Tied to IMF voting power
• Indicative of Australia’s international political strategy