Which Donors, Which Funds? : The Choice of Multilateral Funds by Bilateral Donors at the World Bank

Reinsberg, Bernhard ; Michaelowa, Katharina ; Knack, Stephen

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: LIMITED;    TERRORISM;    EMPLOYMENT;    BILATERAL AGENCIES;    MULTILATERAL AID;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7441
RP-ID  :  WPS7441

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The rapid growth of trust funds atmultilateral development organizations has been widelyneglected in the academic literature so far. Using a simpleillustrative model, this paper examines the choice bysovereign donors among various trust fund options. Theauthors contend that the choice among the different trustfunds involves a fundamental trade-off: larger funds providedonors with the benefit of burden sharing. Conversely, eachdonor can better assert its individual preferences in a fundwith fewer other donors. The theoretical considerationsyield testable implications on a range of factors affectingthis fundamental tradeoff, most notably the area ofintervention of the trust fund and competing domesticinterests of donor countries. Using a sample of World Banktrust funds, the paper examines the participation decisionsof Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment/Development Assistance Committee donors over thepast decade. In line with the theoretical argument,preference homogeneity among donors as well as indicatorsfor global activities and fragile states assistance arerobust determinants of participation in (large) multi-donorfunds. In contrast, donors tend to prefer single-donor trustfunds in areas in which their national interests dominate.Although they could use bilateral aid for the same purpose,they often prefer to channel their contributions throughtrust funds at multilateral agencies. Donors thereby reducetheir own administrative costs, while benefiting from theexpertise of the multilateral agency. These findings confirmprior qualitative case studies and evidence from donorreports, suggesting that reduced reliance on single-donortrust funds—a costly instrument from the perspective ofmultilateral agencies—can improve the developmenteffectiveness of aid.