There is increasing evidence for the negative effect of external aid programs on public health. Accordingly, it is essential to research how donors could effectively allocate their aid. It is...Show moreThere is increasing evidence for the negative effect of external aid programs on public health. Accordingly, it is essential to research how donors could effectively allocate their aid. It is established that institution-building in the health sector is crucial for enhancing public health, for example by fostering accountability and transparency. Aid that is spent on institution-building is expected to have a positive effect on public health. However, there is no empirical evidence for that, and therefore, this research contributes to the existing literature by answering the following research question: What is the effect of aid targeting institution building in the health sector on public health outcomes? Several linear regressions are performed to test the effect of Official Development Assistance for institution-building in the health sector on infant mortality, life expectancy, and immunization rates. The overall research findings show a positive, but small and insignificant relationship between health institutional aid and public health.Show less
Aid practices are often not leading to inclusive human development. Research has shown that recipient countries face challenges to foster social progress, which is here to be understood as...Show moreAid practices are often not leading to inclusive human development. Research has shown that recipient countries face challenges to foster social progress, which is here to be understood as aggregate improvement of income, health status, and freedoms of the population. The challenges are often stemming from ineffective financial allocation of capital. This often forms the foundation for experts’ criticism of the effectiveness of aid efforts. Official Development Assistance (ODA), for example, can be deemed to be one form of partially ineffective aid practice. This study aims at identifying the causal mechanisms, triggered by ODA disbursements, that hinder social development. More specifically, the case of Japanese ODA in Myanmar shall be the focus of this study. Building on existing work, this paper asks: to what extent is Japanese ODA contributing to social progress in Myanmar? Based on an in-depth case study analysis of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, this study seeks to demonstrate how the Japanese ODA project has not been successfully contributing to social development in Myanmar. The assessment of the results illustrated that the enhancement of human capabilities, understood with the Capability Approach developed by Amartya Sen, has not been verified.Show less
