Motives of territorial allocation of Japanese development aid: self-interest, altruism or merit?

Abstract

The paper analyses factors affecting territorial allocation of Japanese development aid. After reviewing 12 available empirical studies with some inconsistent results, we applied regression analysis over the recent and relatively long period (1994–2014). The analysis brings three main conclusions. First, Japan’s interests tend to be relatively less important factor than found in other studies, with some role for export/trade that may have dimin-ished recently. Second, there is a middle-income effect in Japan’s allocation, indicating on-ly moderate support for recipient countries’ needs hypothesis. Third, Japan tends to re-ward countries that have better governance and higher level of freedom and democracy.