Transcript inaf100_fenton

Who to Help?
Molly Morales
Grace Fenton
Question
• How do philanthropists decide which countries to
help?
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is the
largest private grant-making foundation
• How does the BMGF chose which African countries to
allocate grants to?
Literature
• World Bank and IMF avoid democracies (Kanbur, 2000)
• “Rather than demonstrating a positive relationship between
foreign aid and recipient social-welfare factors, our findings
discounted the role of humanitarian need in the aid policies of
these industrialized democracies” (Schraeder et al., 1998)
Literature
• “Countries which have democratized have received a ‘surge’
of foreign aid, immediately afterwards” (Alesina, 1998)
• “Grant making by the Gates Foundation seems to be largely
managed through an informal system of personal networks
and relationships rather than by a more transparent process
based on independent and technical peer review” (McCoy
2009)
The Foundation
• Assets exceeding $37 billion
• In 2011, $3.4 billion was granted
• “All lives have equal value”
• Goal is health care equality
Our Goal
• Does regime type have an affect on if the country gets
aid?
• We associate equality with democracy
• Hypothesis: Democracies get more aid than non
democracies
• Test this hypothesis and conduct case studies
The Data
Aid Given to Democratic Countries
• Democracies receive 24% more aid than non democracies
Ln_gates
Coef.
Std. Err.
t
P>|t|
[95%
Interval]
Dem_dum
0.238
0.124
1.91
0.057
[-0.008,
0.484]
Cons
0.232
0.065
3.59
0.000
[0.104,
0.359]
The Data
Controlling for GDP per capita (Constant 2000 USD)
• When controlling for GDP, the results were not
statistically significant
Ln_gates
Coef.
Std. Err.
t
P>|t|
[95%
Interval]
Dem_dum
0.261
0.131
1.99
0.049
[0.001,
0.521]
Gdppercapita -0.000
0.000
-1.45
0.149
[-0.000,
0.000]
_cons
0.078
3.88
0.000
[0.149,
0.459]
0.304
Analysis
• “Philanthrocapitalist”
• Investment policies discredit
•Ebocha, Nigeria
• “The Gates Foundation is not a passive donor. The
foundation actively engages in policy making and
agenda setting activities” (McCoy, 2009)
South Africa
• 2009- $3.18 Gates Aid (2010 USD Millions)
• GDP Per Capita (Constant 2000 USD):
• 2009- $3,697.67
• 2010- $3,753.45
• 2011- $3,825.09
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Democratic
TB
Bilateral Relations with US
Pivotal State
“Good Governance”
Burundi
• No Aid
• Low GDP Per Capita (Constant 2000 USD):
• 2009- $136.66
• 2010- $138.25
• 2011- $140.81
• AIDS, TB
• Non-democratic
• Human Rights Violations
Future work
• Examine the trends in relation to the US’ foreign aid
policies
• Relation of the outbreak of diseases in the country
• Look further into humans’ rights violations
Conclusion
Question: Are democracies more likely to receive aid
from the Gates Foundation than non-democratic
countries?
Findings: The Gates Foundation donates more to
democratic countries than non-democratic ones.
• More tests are needed
Political factors play a significant role