Is Aid Good for the Poor in Sub-Saharan Africa?

We contribute to the aid-poverty literature in Sub-Saharan Africa in three fundamental respects. First, we sidestep the controversial aid-growthpoverty relationship by analysing the direct impacts of aid on poverty in Sub- Saharan Africa. Second, in line with previous studies, we first analysed t...

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Main Author: Elisha Mavodyo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institute of Business Administration 2025-06-01
Series:Business Review
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Online Access:https://ir.iba.edu.pk/businessreview/vol20/iss1/1/
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author Elisha Mavodyo
author_facet Elisha Mavodyo
author_sort Elisha Mavodyo
collection DOAJ
description We contribute to the aid-poverty literature in Sub-Saharan Africa in three fundamental respects. First, we sidestep the controversial aid-growthpoverty relationship by analysing the direct impacts of aid on poverty in Sub- Saharan Africa. Second, in line with previous studies, we first analysed the impact of aid on poverty headcount, poverty gap, and poverty gap squared. Third, we complemented this analysis with an analysis of the direct impact of aid on the incomes of the poor, followed by an analysis of aid on inequality. Such an approach allowed us to draw nuanced conclusions about how effective foreign aid is in alleviating overall poverty, poverty gap, poverty severity, and deeper issues related to income disparity among impoverished populations in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region. Relying on the system GMM estimator that is robust to endogeneity, results show that overall aid and multilateral aid have a statistically significant impact on reducing poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, results show that the impact of bilateral aid on the poverty rate, poverty gap, and poverty severity is inconclusive. Results also show that while both overall aid and multilateral aid raise the incomes of the poor and reduce inequality, bilateral aid marginally reduces income disparity but does not increase the incomes of the poor. Our findings imply that policymakers must adopt a nuanced approach that leverages successful implementation of overall and multi-lateral aid while ensuring targeted interventions directly benefit those living in poverty.
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spelling doaj-art-bf61cfdc33224d97b745b6b520f2d6292025-08-20T03:47:40ZengInstitute of Business AdministrationBusiness Review1990-65872788-95992025-06-0120112210.54784/1990-6587.1672Is Aid Good for the Poor in Sub-Saharan Africa?Elisha Mavodyo0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4133-5782University of Zimbabwe, ZimbabweWe contribute to the aid-poverty literature in Sub-Saharan Africa in three fundamental respects. First, we sidestep the controversial aid-growthpoverty relationship by analysing the direct impacts of aid on poverty in Sub- Saharan Africa. Second, in line with previous studies, we first analysed the impact of aid on poverty headcount, poverty gap, and poverty gap squared. Third, we complemented this analysis with an analysis of the direct impact of aid on the incomes of the poor, followed by an analysis of aid on inequality. Such an approach allowed us to draw nuanced conclusions about how effective foreign aid is in alleviating overall poverty, poverty gap, poverty severity, and deeper issues related to income disparity among impoverished populations in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region. Relying on the system GMM estimator that is robust to endogeneity, results show that overall aid and multilateral aid have a statistically significant impact on reducing poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, results show that the impact of bilateral aid on the poverty rate, poverty gap, and poverty severity is inconclusive. Results also show that while both overall aid and multilateral aid raise the incomes of the poor and reduce inequality, bilateral aid marginally reduces income disparity but does not increase the incomes of the poor. Our findings imply that policymakers must adopt a nuanced approach that leverages successful implementation of overall and multi-lateral aid while ensuring targeted interventions directly benefit those living in poverty.https://ir.iba.edu.pk/businessreview/vol20/iss1/1/aidsub-saharan africasystem gmmpoverty
spellingShingle Elisha Mavodyo
Is Aid Good for the Poor in Sub-Saharan Africa?
Business Review
aid
sub-saharan africa
system gmm
poverty
title Is Aid Good for the Poor in Sub-Saharan Africa?
title_full Is Aid Good for the Poor in Sub-Saharan Africa?
title_fullStr Is Aid Good for the Poor in Sub-Saharan Africa?
title_full_unstemmed Is Aid Good for the Poor in Sub-Saharan Africa?
title_short Is Aid Good for the Poor in Sub-Saharan Africa?
title_sort is aid good for the poor in sub saharan africa
topic aid
sub-saharan africa
system gmm
poverty
url https://ir.iba.edu.pk/businessreview/vol20/iss1/1/
work_keys_str_mv AT elishamavodyo isaidgoodforthepoorinsubsaharanafrica