AID AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION - AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

This article evaluates the poverty alleviation effect of international aid provided by Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Dev elopment Assistance Committee members, and multilateral organizations. A consistent poverty evaluation framework together with head count ra tio data comparable across countries is employed. Results indicate tha t aid expansion by the government of Japan is relatively inefficient a nd ineffective in terms of poverty alleviation. On the other hand, the UK and multilateral institutions might have been most effective at th e margin among the donors considered. Results for US aid indicate that major revisions of the amounts disbursed under its Economic Support F und are required to improve the efficiency and marginal effectiveness of US aid in terms of poverty alleviation. However, the change in meas ures between 1985 and 1990 suggests a decline in poverty alleviation e ffectiveness for Japan and the UK, and a increase for the US.