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American Generosity is Underappreciated
by Brett D. Schaefer
WebMemo #630
December 30, 2004 |
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The tragic loss of life from the earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean
now exceeds 100,000 and may eventually double that, due to disease, civil
unrest, and other factors. In response, the United States and other nations
have pledged millions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to aid the
survivors and assist affected nations in recovering from the disaster.
Unfortunately, some in the international aid business cannot seem to shake
their reflexive criticism of America despite ample evidence of its
generosity.
The U.S. government initially announced that it would provide $15 million
in humanitarian aid and send experts to help affected nations recover. Jan
Egeland, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator, criticized the U.S. commitment as "stingy"
despite the fact that the U.S. pledge far exceeded those of all European
nations. He quickly apologized and said that he did not mean to single out
the United States, but the transcript of his comments clearly identifies
the U.S. as the primary target.
Rhetoric vs. Reality
Mr. Egelund's criticism was based on his belief that America is not
providing enough development assistance-specifically, aid as a percentage
of its gross national income (GNI). According to the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. is dead last in aid
as a percent of GNI at 0.15 percent.[1] Mr. Egelund's native country of
Norway has a ratio of 0.92 percent. There are several problems with this
approach:
Actual dollar contributions reveal that the U.S. is the world's largest
donor. The OECD calculates U.S. development assistance (based on bilateral
assistance, humanitarian assistance, and contributions to multilateral
institutions like the International Development Association of the World
Bank) in 2003 at $16.2 billion-more than double the amount given by France,
Germany, or any other European nation.[2] Japan is second at $8.9 billion.
* Private aid is ignored. These numbers do not include private
assistance. This is not a major factor for most other nations because
private charity is not large in most countries. It is a gigantic oversight
when calculating America's aid ratio, however, because the U.S. Agency for
International Development estimated that private assistance was $33.6
billion in 2000.[3] Therefore, the calculations upon which Egelund based
his criticism severely shortchange the generosity of the United States.
* It demonstrates an inappropriate focus on inputs rather than
outputs. Development assistance should help recipients develop, but the
evidence demonstrates that many recipient nations are actually becoming
poorer. This is particularly true for sub-Saharan Africa, which is the
region of the world most desperately in need of development. Despite
hundreds of billions in development assistance, sub-Saharan Africa has
performed dismally. Of the 45 sub-Saharan African countries for which per
capita GDP data are available from 1980 to 2002, most experienced zero or
negative compound annual growth in real per capita GDP (constant 1995 U.S.
dollars).[4] Sub-Saharan Africa as a region saw a decline in per capita GDP
from $660 in 1980 to $577 in 2002 (in constant terms).[5] Instead of
focusing on the amount of assistance, donors should focus on maximizing
results through economic freedom, bolstering the rule of law, and adopting
strong institutions. Foreign aid cannot replace domestic will to adopt good
policies, without which long-term development is impossible.
* America's central role in humanitarian efforts is ignored.
Egelund's criticism becomes patently ridiculous after an examination of
U.S. assistance for disaster and humanitarian relief-the type of aid needed
in the Indian Ocean. Data from the OECD reveal that the U.S. gave nearly
$2.5 billion in emergency and distress relief in 2003.[6] All other
countries combined gave $3.4 billion, including $475 million from France
and $350 million from Norway. Moreover, the U.S. contributed nearly 70
percent of all food assistance.
* America is a key donor to U.N. relief organizations. The United
States is a major donor to international relief organizations, including
the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which Egelund
oversees, to which the U.S. is second largest donor (nearly 14 percent in
2003).[7] America is the largest contributor to the U.N. budget at 22
percent, or $317 million, in 2004. It gives over 56 percent of the World
Food Program budget and $72 million and $94 million to the Food and
Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, respectively.[8]
Conclusion
The United States is the world's largest source of humanitarian aid. By
nature, humanitarian aid must be tailored to individual crises: Every
single famine, earthquake, flood, or other disaster is unique and requires
different types of aid and different strategies. As death tolls climbed in
the wake of the disaster in Southeast Asia and the needs of the survivors
became clearer, the United States upped its humanitarian aid commitments to
the region to $35 million, and expectations are that total U.S.
contributions will continue to increase.
Criticisms of America's generosity, such as those made by Egeland, fly in
the face of reality. International aid experts do their organizations no
credit to criticize American largess-especially since following through on
their good intentions would be impossible without it.
Brett D. Schaefer is the Jay Kingham Fellow in International Regulatory
Affairs in the Center for International Trade and Economics at The Heritage
Foundation.
[1] Data from the most recent year available. Statistical Annex of the 2004
Development Co-operation Report, Table 1, Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development, at
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/52/9/1893143.xls.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Foreign Aid and the National Interest: Promoting Freedom, Security, and
Opportunity, "Overview," U.S. Agency for International Development, p. 27.
[4] Brett D. Schaefer, "Multilateral Economic Development Efforts in
Sub-Saharan Africa," Heritage Lecture #858, December 20, 2004, at
http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/hl858.cfm.
[5]World Bank, World Bank Development Indicators.
[6] Data from the most recent year available. Statistical Annex of the 2004
Development Co-operation Report, Table 13, Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development, at
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/52/9/1893143.xls.
[7] OCHA Annual Report 2003, pp. 18-19, at
http://ochaonline.un.org/DocView.asp?DocID=759.
[8] "International Organizations and Conferences," Budget of the United
States Government, Fiscal Year 2005-Appendix, The Office of Management and
Budget, p. 749,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/pdf/appendix/sta.pdf and
"Funding WFP," United Nations World Food Programme, at
http://www.wfp.org/index.asp?section=3;
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