Foreign Aid and GDP Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank Indicators graph, 2006)
Summary: This graph was originally published by the World Bank and depicts the amount of foreign aid Africa receives (as a percentage of their GDP) compared to its GDP growth per capita from the year 1970 to 2006. The rather staggering result is that right around the time when Africa was receiving the most foreign aid, their GDP per capita was at its lowest point, and overall, Africa’s GDP is lower now than it was in 1970 despite the fact that the amount of aid they are receiving has grown exponentially.
Topic: Should the state department of the Obama Administration double foreign aid for Africa?
Category: Institutional Government
What Is It? World Bank graph
Title: Foreign Aid and GDP Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa
Publication Information: World Bank Indicators Online, 2006 originally but I’m taking it from an aei.org article from August 1, 2007
Author: Sarath Rajapatirana and Deepak Lal
Location: https://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.26582,filter.all/pub_detail.asp
Accessed: March 3, 2009
Support:
• World Bank online database data
The data within the graph spans from 1970 to 2006 and charts out how much foreign aid (as a percentage of GDP) Africa is receiving alongside how much growth they have experienced.
Audience and Agenda: The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) is non-partisan, non-profit, privately funded institution that focuses on research and education on myriad policy issues. AEI was founded in 1943 and houses some of America’s most accomplished public policy experts in a wide array of fields. They are very highly regarded and strive for objectivism in their research and the presentation of their findings. The purpose of their research is to make facts and information regarding public policy actually available to the public. They have a wide audience consisting of anyone interested in knowing more about the effectiveness of public policy or just public policy in general.
Usefulness: This graph supports the argument that foreign aid (as it stands now) is ineffective for Africa and may even be doing more harm than good (though, other factors must be taken into account for their falling GDP per capita). The results of putting these two factors together on the same graph are striking in that it’s not what most Americans would expect (or want) to see when it comes to their foreign aid (or their tax dollars, for those less interested in humanitarian efforts). It makes the argument that the state department should not be attempting to double foreign aid, as it stand right now because according to this graph, it’s clearly not working.
Works Cited:
AEI.org about page
World Bank about page
