International Aid and Policy
This interdisciplinary project seeks to explain the allocation and effectiveness of development assistance for the environment. In order to understand whether aid targeted at the environment is effective, numerous empirical questions must be examined. First, do donors allocate environmental aid to recipients that are likely to use the money effectively and for environmental purposes, or do donors target environmental need above and beyond all other considerations? Second, are multilateral donors (e.g. the World Bank) better at delivering more successful environmental projects than bilateral donors (e.g. the World Bank)? Finally, is the aid aimed at global public goods (e.g. biodiversity) allocated in fundamentally different ways that that for regional or local environmental projects (e.g. water quality improvement)?
To answer these questions, Professors Roberts (Sociology), Tierney (Government), and Hicks (Economics) and a team of undergraduate researchers have assembled a comprehensive database on aid projects undertaken since 1970 from over 50 donor countries and organizations. Faculty involved in this area include:
- Rob Hicks research interests include the economic valuation of environmental resources, the use of eco-labeling as a tool for markets to reward producers who practice environmentally sustainable methods of production, spatial econometrics, and international aid for the environment.
- Kemi George examines the role that epistemic communities, or networks of scientists sharing an epistemology and rationale for action, play in influencing environmental governance in developing countries. Specifically, he tests whether economic pressures constrain the way in which epistemic communities frame their arguments to policymakers and environmental managers.
- Mike Tierney is studying the allocation of environmental aid to developing countries.
