Do Emerging Donors Allocate AId as Dac Members Do? The Case of Korea in the Millennium Era

This study estimates the responsiveness of Korean aid to recipient countries' socio‐economic development needs and the strategic and commercial interests of Korea, with implications for other emerging and Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors. For this purpose, fixed effects regression models are used for the allocation of aid by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to 157 recipient countries over the period 2004–2008. The results contrast sharply with the trend seen in DAC member countries. KOICA's aid allocations are consistent with neither socio‐economic development and poverty‐reduction objectives of aid, nor much of the strategic and commercial interests of Korea.