ABSTRACT
This chapter represents a change in methodology, away from the policy analyses of the previous chapters, to quantitative-empirical analysis of the aid policies implemented by the World Bank, the Netherlands and the United States. The objective of the tests in this chapter is to find out whether, and to what extent, the claims made about aid selectivity at the policy level are borne out by empirical data. More concretely, the analyses presented in this chapter test whether it is possible to explain the choices made in World Bank, Dutch and US policies related to the selection of aid recipients and the allocation of aid on the basis of the criteria that had been introduced as part of the move towards greater selectivity (in particular, governance quality and poverty level). The findings from the analyses are important, as they serve as a test of the extent to which the policy rhetoric is matched by actual changes in day-to-day policy implementation.
