## Foreign Aid and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence From Global Food Aid

_IMF Working Papers, February 1, 2003_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Foreign Aid and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence From Global Food Aid](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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## Bibliographic details
- 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

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### Summary
- 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.

### Key findings
- 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.

### Data, scope, and methodology (as stated)
- Coverage: some 150 developing countries and transition economies.
- Time period: covering 1970 to 2000.
- Robustness: results hold across various specifications and filtering techniques.

### Policy implications and considerations
- 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.

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## Content in this bundle

- **Foreign Aid and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence from Global Food Aid - WP/03/40**
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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/foreign-aid-and-consumption-smoothing-evidence-from-global-food-aid-16278_