人道主义援助中的本土偏好：区域偏袒在国际灾害救济分配中的作用

中文摘要

本文考察区域偏袒是否影响人道主义援助流向。利用源自美国对外灾害援助办公室（OFDA）报告的丰富而独特的数据集，我们表明，当外生自然灾害袭击受援国政治领导人的出生地区时，拨付的援助金额显著更大。虽然我们未发现美国商业或政治利益影响这种本土偏向规模的证据，但在官僚体系和治理较为薄弱的国家中，这种偏袒更强，这表明在援助分配中缺乏有效的保障机制。

Abstract

This paper investigates whether regional favoritism shapes humanitarian aid flows. Using a rich and unique dataset derived from reports of the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), we show that substantially larger amounts of aid are disbursed when exogenous natural disasters hit the birth region of the recipient countries’ political leader. While we find no evidence that US commercial or political interests affect the size of this home bias, the bias is stronger in countries with a weaker bureaucracy and governance, suggesting the absence of effective safeguards in the allocation of aid.