International Public Goods and the Case for Foreign Aid

Abstract

In the presence of international public goods, donors are faced with two instruments whereby recipient utility may be altered -contributions towards the international public good and direct transfers (conventional foreign aid). The self-interested donor's optimal choice of transfer-contributions combinations will typically depend upon the public goods technology. Some technologies call for a corner solution, with either transfers or contributions set to zero, and others are characterised by interior solutions, where the donor's optimal strategy calls for a positive transfers and positive contributions. Whether or not the presence of an international public good strengthens the case for conventional foreign liid transfers is therefore not always obvious.