Criticism
Official development assistance has been criticized by several economists for being an inappropriate way of really helping poor countries. The Hungarian economist Peter Thomas Bauer has been one of the most vocal of them. Another notable economist arguing against ODA includes Dambisa Moyo in her book Dead Aid.
Donor countries are most commonly compared by the amount of Official Development Assistance given and their quantity of aid as a percent of GDP. However, there is an increasing focus placed on the quality of aid, rather than simply the quantity. The Commitment to Development Index is one such measure that ranks the largest donors on a broad range of their "development friendly" policies. It takes into account the quality of aid, in addition to the quantity, penalizing countries for tied aid. Aid also does not operate in a vacuum; a country's policies on issues such as trade or migration also have a significant impact on developing countries.
Read more about this topic: Official Development Assistance
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