{
  "title": "Foreign Aid and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence From Global Food Aid",
  "publication": "IMF Working Papers, February 1, 2003",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/foreign-aid-and-consumption-smoothing-evidence-from-global-food-aid-16278",
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  "summary": "Global food aid is considered a critical consumption smoothing mechanism in many countries. However, its record of stabilizing consumption has been mixed.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Summary",
      "content": "- Global food aid is considered a critical consumption smoothing mechanism in many countries, but its record of stabilizing consumption has been mixed.\n- This paper examines the cyclical properties of food aid with respect to food availability in recipient countries, with a view to assessing its impact on consumption in some 150 developing countries and transition economies, covering 1970 to 2000.\n- The results are robust to various specifications and filtering techniques and have important implications for macroeconomic and fiscal management."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key findings",
      "content": "- Global food aid has been allocated to countries most in need.\n- Food aid has been countercyclical within countries with the greatest need.\n- For most countries, food aid is not countercyclical.\n- The amount of food aid provided is insufficient to mitigate contemporaneous shortfalls in consumption."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Data, scope, and methodology (as stated)",
      "content": "- Coverage: some 150 developing countries and transition economies.\n- Time period: covering 1970 to 2000.\n- Robustness: results hold across various specifications and filtering techniques."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy implications and considerations",
      "content": "- The observed insufficiency of food aid to mitigate contemporaneous consumption shortfalls suggests limits to food aid’s effectiveness as a consumption smoothing instrument.\n- Findings have important implications for macroeconomic and fiscal management in recipient countries, particularly where food aid is not reliably countercyclical.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- Foreign Aid and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence from Global Food Aid - WP/03/40\n  - Foreign Aid and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence from Global Food Aid - WP/03/40 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Foreign Aid and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence from Global Food Aid - WP/03/40 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/foreign-aid-and-consumption-smoothing-evidence-from-global-food-aid-16278"
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    "Authors: Erwin H Tiongson, Benedict J. Clements, Sanjeev Gupta",
    "Published: February 1, 2003",
    "Series: IMF Working Papers",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451845990.001",
    "Global food aid is considered a critical consumption smoothing mechanism in many countries, but its record of stabilizing consumption has been mixed.",
    "This paper examines the cyclical properties of food aid with respect to food availability in recipient countries, with a view to assessing its impact on consumption in some 150 developing countries and transition economies, covering 1970 to 2000.",
    "The results are robust to various specifications and filtering techniques and have important implications for macroeconomic and fiscal management.",
    "Global food aid has been allocated to countries most in need.",
    "Food aid has been countercyclical within countries with the greatest need.",
    "For most countries, food aid is not countercyclical.",
    "The amount of food aid provided is insufficient to mitigate contemporaneous shortfalls in consumption.",
    "Coverage: some 150 developing countries and transition economies.",
    "Time period: covering 1970 to 2000.",
    "Robustness: results hold across various specifications and filtering techniques.",
    "The observed insufficiency of food aid to mitigate contemporaneous consumption shortfalls suggests limits to food aid’s effectiveness as a consumption smoothing instrument.",
    "Findings have important implications for macroeconomic and fiscal management in recipient countries, particularly where food aid is not reliably countercyclical.",
    "**Foreign Aid and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence from Global Food Aid - WP/03/40**"
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