Data Set Description
The files included in this database contain the conventional and the adjusted measures of official development assistance to a set of 133 countries between 1975 and 1995. The principal component of the data set is Effective Development Assistance (EDA), an aggregate measure of aid flows combining total grants and the grant equivalents of all official loans.

EDA is computed on a loan-by-loan basis to reflect the financial cost the creditor incurs in making loans on concessional terms. Data on this as well as all other variables contained in these files are formally presented in Charles C. Chang, Eduardo Fernandez-Arias and Luis Serven, "Measuring Aid Flows, A New Approach," World Bank, 1998 (forthcoming).

Three files are included in this data set: EDA.xls, BEDA.xls and MEDA.xls. BEDA.xls aggregates annual flows from all bilateral donors. MEDA.xls aggregates annual flows from all multilateral donors. EDA.xls shows the total from all official sources, which is equal to the sum of BEDA and MEDA for the same variables. The data set is organized by recipient country and year. A more detailed description of variables and files is in the "readme" file (also included in compressed database files).

 

Abstract for Measuring Aid Flows: a New Approach
by Charles C. Chang, Eduardo Fernandez-Arias, and Luis Serven
The debate on the effectiveness of foreign aid has intensified in recent years, as aid has come under increasing budgetary pressures in donor countries. Whatever the merits of the opposing arguments, the fundamental issue arises of whether the conventionally-used measures of aid such as ODA, that lump together grants and loans, accurately reflect true aid flows. In this paper we analyze the methodological shortcomings of conventional aid measures, and propose a new valuation approach that measures official aid flows as the sum of grants and the grant equivalents of official loans. We show how this superior aid measure can diverge significantly from the conventional aggregates and tell different stories of major aid trends.