Thresholds in Aid Effectiveness

Is the big push hypothesis consistent with capacity constraints in the study of aid effectiveness? Big push hypothesis suggests the existence of a minimum threshold below which aid is not effective, while the constraints referred to by the concept of absorptive capacity suggests the existence of another threshold above which aid is no longer effective. This paper addresses the issue of multiple thresholds characterizing the aid/growth relationship. Using a semiparametric econometric method we do find that aid become effective only above a critical level but also become detrimental to growth for higher value of aid flows. We also investigate how the quality of economic policies and vulnerability modifies the level of those two thresholds. We finally propose a dynamic explanation of the aid/growth relationship.economic growth, aid effectiveness, Threshold Models, Semiparametric Regressions

Aid and Universal Primary Education

Universal Primary Education (UPE) is one of the main objectives of development aid. However, very little empirical evidence of its effectiveness actually exists. Until very recently, the quality of available data was not sufficient to obtain robust results regarding the relationship between international aid and educational achievements. In this article, the latest, more disaggregated and more reliable data is used to study the relationship between aid to education and educational achievements. The focus here not only on educational variables in term of coverage, but also in term of equity and process. The year of Fast Track Initiative (FTI) endorsement is used as an original instrument to tackle the endogeneity problem of aid. Our results are very robust and indicate that aid to primary education has a strong effect on primary school enrollment and gender parity. A negative impact on repetitions rate is also indicated while no effect on the pupil teacher ratio can be observed. Diminishing return in the effectiveness of aid to primary education may also be highlighted. Finally, the governance variables do not appear to have an impact on this relationship.aid effectiveness;education;Sector-specific aid

Aid and Universal Primary Education

Universal Primary Education (UPE) is one of the main objectives of development aid. However, very little empirical evidence of its effectiveness actually exists. Until very recently, the quality of available data was not sufficient to obtain robust results regarding the relationship between international aid and educational achievements. In this article, the latest, more disaggregated and more reliable data is used to study the relationship between aid to education and educational achievements. The focus here not only on educational variables in term of coverage, but also in term of equity and process. The year of Fast Track Initiative (FTI) endorsement is used as an original instrument to tackle the endogeneity problem of aid. Our results are very robust and indicate that aid to primary education has a strong effect on primary school enrollment and gender parity. A negative impact on repetitions rate is also indicated while no effect on the pupil teacher ratio can be observed. Diminishing return in the effectiveness of aid to primary education may also be highlighted. Finally, the governance variables do not appear to have an impact on this relationship.aid effectiveness, education, Sector-specific aid

Aid effectiveness for poverty reduction: lessons from cross-country analyses, with a special focus on vulnerable countries

Ferdi, Working paper P96, marsFollowing the adoption of the MDG, particularly the first one that is to reduce poverty by half between 1995 and 2015, numerous studies have examined how external aid can contribute to their achievement. The formula "doubling aid to reduce the poverty by half" relied on the implicit assumption that aid was an effective instrument for poverty reduction. The formula and corresponding assumption have been debated. Two opposite views clearly appeared, one, represented by Jeffrey Sachs in his End of Poverty, underlining the need for a big push to get low income countries out of poverty traps, the other one, illustrated by the attacks of William Easterly against aid as a support of a big push and the idea of a poverty trap, and also including arguments about a limited absorptive capacity. Elsewhere we have argued that the absorptive capacity of aid depends on aid modalities and can be enhanced by a reform of aid, a way by which big push and absorptive capacity views can be reconciled and to which we come back later (Guillaumont and Guillaumont Jeanneney, 2010).Actually the academic debate on aid effectiveness of the first millennium decade has been dominated by another controversy, relying on cross country regressions and initiated by the highly influential paper of Burnside and Dollar (2000). After so many cross country studies following their paper, supporting or, more often, criticizing it, there seems to be a temptation to consider this research orientation as a deadlock and to switch to micro impact analysis. Whatever the importance and need of impact micro-analyses, we argue that it would be a dangerous dismissal to give up the cross-section approach, for several reasons. First the methodological weaknesses of many studies does not entail that other ones relying on better methodology and data cannot lead to more robust results. Second, since cross section studies on aid effectiveness will never be totally given up, there is a risk to see only the most provocative (and possibly least robust) retaining the attention of media and policy makers, a policy challenge to be kept in mind in the orientation of research. Finally micro studies and impact analyses, while they supply policy makers with useful information in a given context, are not an appropriate tool for assessing the impact of macro-economic features of countries on aid effectiveness.The aim of this paper, relying on results of the cross country literature on aid effectiveness, and drawing only on those we consider as particularly relevant and robust is to examine how aid can contribute to poverty reduction, with a special focus on the way it can address the vulnerability of many developing countries

Aid and Universal Primary Education

Universal Primary Education (UPE) is one of the main objectives of development aid. However, very little empirical evidence of its effectiveness actually exists. Until very recently, the quality of available data was not sufficient to obtain robust results regarding the relationship between international aid and educational achievements. In this article, the latest, more disaggregated and more reliable data is used to study the relationship between aid to education and educational achievements. The focus here not only on educational variables in term of coverage, but also in term of equity and process. The year of Fast Track Initiative (FTI) endorsement is used as an original instrument to tackle the endogeneity problem of aid. Our results are very robust and indicate that aid to primary education has a strong effect on primary school enrollment and gender parity. A negative impact on repetitions rate is also indicated while no effect on the pupil teacher ratio can be observed. Diminishing return in the effectiveness of aid to primary education may also be highlighted. Finally, the governance variables do not appear to have an impact on this relationship

MINESTIS, the route to resource estimates: Presentation of 3D geomodeling software, held at IAMG 2015 in Freiberg

Minestis software allows geological domain modeling and resource estimation through an efficient and simplified geostatistics-based workflow. It has been designed for all those, geologists, mining engineers or auditors, for whom quick production of quality models is at the heart of their concerns

KARTOTRAK, integrated software solution for contaminated site characterization: presentation of 3D geomodeling software, held at IAMG 2015 in Freiberg

Kartotrak software allows optimal waste classification and avoids unnecessary remediation. It has been designed for those - site owners, safety authorities or contractors, involved in environmental site characterization projects - who need to locate and estimate contaminated soil volumes confidently

Toward a DNA Taxonomy of Alpine Rhithrogena (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae) Using a Mixed Yule-Coalescent Analysis of Mitochondrial and Nuclear DNA

Aquatic larvae of many Rhithrogena mayflies (Ephemeroptera) inhabit sensitive Alpine environments. A number of species are on the IUCN Red List and many recognized species have restricted distributions and are of conservation interest. Despite their ecological and conservation importance, ambiguous morphological differences among closely related species suggest that the current taxonomy may not accurately reflect the evolutionary diversity of the group. Here we examined the species status of nearly 50% of European Rhithrogena diversity using a widespread sampling scheme of Alpine species that included 22 type localities, general mixed Yule-coalescent (GMYC) model analysis of one standard mtDNA marker and one newly developed nDNA marker, and morphological identification where possible. Using sequences from 533 individuals from 144 sampling localities, we observed significant clustering of the mitochondrial (cox1) marker into 31 GMYC species. Twenty-one of these could be identified based on the presence of topotypes (expertly identified specimens from the species' type locality) or unambiguous morphology. These results strongly suggest the presence of both cryptic diversity and taxonomic oversplitting in Rhithrogena. Significant clustering was not detected with protein-coding nuclear PEPCK, although nine GMYC species were congruent with well supported terminal clusters of nDNA. Lack of greater congruence in the two data sets may be the result of incomplete sorting of ancestral polymorphism. Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of both gene regions recovered four of the six recognized Rhithrogena species groups in our samples as monophyletic. Future development of more nuclear markers would facilitate multi-locus analysis of unresolved, closely related species pairs. The DNA taxonomy developed here lays the groundwork for a future revision of the important but cryptic Rhithrogena genus in Europe