Foreign aid and population policy: some ethical considerations

This paper analyzes a two-period foreign-aid model where assistance can be given in the form of consumption or population-control aid. Population size in period 2 is endogenous. Using the family of ethical principles called c ritical-level utilitarianism (CLU), we examine the properties of ethically optimal resource allocations. Our results show that the direction of the et hical response of population size to changes in the cost of population cont rol and the size of the grant depends on the relationship between the criti cal level of well-being, an ethical parameter, and the standard of living i n the recipient country. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved . JEL classification: D63; O15.