Research Datasets

In addition to providing a searchable database of more than 1 million aid activities from the 1940s to present, AidData has assembled a set of datasets specifically for researchers. Three of these datasets are derived from AidData's core database: a 'Research Release' of all project-level records as of November 2011, a dataset of aggregate financial transfers between donors and recipients (generated from the November 2011 Research Release), and a dataset of aggregate financial transfers between individual financing agencies and recipients (generated from the November 2011 Research Release). There are also links to other useful datasets (e.g. NGO aid, military aid, Chinese aid, IMF conditionality compliance) that are not derived from AidData's core database, but may be of interest to researchers.

AidData Research Release 2.0
Source: AidData
Contents: AidData's Research Release 2.0 is a snapshot of the AidData's entire project-level database from November 2011. This database includes over 1 million aid activities funded by more than 80 donors from the 1940s to present. AidData Research Releases are particularly useful for researchers because they are static versions of the data that allow for replication and comparison. AidData’s goal is to publish updated research releases on an annual basis (or more frequently if appropriate). For detailed information about this data set, see the AidData User’s Guide.
Data (.zip files, with readme):
AidData full version (.CSV, .SAV, .SQL)
AidData short version* (.CSV, .SAV, .DTA, .SQL)
*includes AidData ID, donor, recipient, year, commitment (USD2009) and purpose code.
Official Citation: Tierney, Michael J., Daniel L. Nielson, Darren G. Hawkins, J. Timmons Roberts, Michael G. Findley, Ryan M. Powers, Bradley Parks, Sven E. Wilson, and Robert L. Hicks. 2011. More Dollars than Sense: Refining Our Knowledge of Development Finance Using AidData. World Development 39 (11): 1891-1906.

AidData Aggregate Datasets
Source: AidData
These datasets offer aggregated flow information from the AidData Research Release 2.0.
Donor-Recipient Dataset: Commitments aggregated by donor-recipient dyads and year. (Download)
Financing Agency-Recipient Dataset: Commitments aggregated by financing agency-recipient dyads and year. In most cases, financing agencies are sub-national funding organizations. (Download)
Donor-Recipient-Purpose Dataset: Commitments aggregated by donor, recipient, purpose code (AidData/CRS) and year. Includes readme. (Download)
If you have generated a useful aggregate dataset and would like to share it, we welcome the opportunity to host it at AidData.org. Please contact info@aiddata.org with questions, comments or suggestions.
Official Citation: Tierney, Michael J., Daniel L. Nielson, Darren G. Hawkins, J. Timmons Roberts, Michael G. Findley, Ryan M. Powers, Bradley Parks, Sven E. Wilson, and Robert L. Hicks. 2011. More Dollars than Sense: Refining Our Knowledge of Development Finance Using AidData. World Development 39 (11): 1891-1906.

AidData Sector Coding Scheme
As described in the AidData User's guide, the AidData sector coding scheme consists of two components:
Purpose Codes are assigned 1:1 to project records and capture the main purpose of a project, in the same style as OECD CRS purpose codes, upon which AidData purpose codes are based.
Activity Codes are assigned n:1 to project records and capture each activity within the project.
Both coding schemes are included in the spreadsheet below. Also available is a simple visualization which may help in introducing the AidData purpose codes.
Downloads
AidData sector codes, spreadsheet (.xlsx)
AidData sector codes, visual (.jpg, .svg, .pdf)

Global Humanitarian Aid Flows, 2000-2012
Source: Financial Tracking Service
Data: Available here.
Contents: The Financial Tracking Service (FTS) is a global, real-time database which records all reported international humanitarian aid since 2000. FTS is managed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA).

Global Philanthropy and Remittances

Source: Center for Global Prosperity (Hudson Institute)

Data: Download here

Contents: Figures from the 2011 Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances. The dataset includes Total Official and Total Private Flows--including Philanthropy, Remittances, and Investment—from OECD Donor Countries to Developing Countries, 1991-2009. These data are disaggregated into Total Flows by Type from All Donor Countries, and Total Flows by Type from Individual Donor Countries (2009), including as a percent of GNI and per capita. Private philanthropy figures from 2009 are broken into OECD official figures and expanded CGP estimates. All remittance data are provided by the World Bank’s Bilateral Remittance Matrix.

Net Aid Transfers data set (1960-2009) - Updated January 28, 2011

Source: Center for Global Development

Data: Available here

Contents: Net Aid Transfers (NAT) are calculated as (Net Official Development Assistance) – (Other Official Flow loan cancellation) – (interest actually received). This dataset includes NAT rankings by bilateral donor (including ODA to multilaterals) and by recipient, both in Current(2009)USD and ConstantUSD.

US disbursements of military aid, 1946-2009

Source: US Overseas Loans and Grants: Obligations and Loan Authorizations Greenbook

Data: Available here

Contents: All US Economic Aid (ODA) and Military Assistance obligations, by country, sector, and implementing agency, from 1946-2009.

Quality of ODA Assessment (QuODA)

Source: Center for Global Development and the Brookings Institution

Data: Available here

Contents: An assessment of the Quality of Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided by 23 donor countries and more than 150 aid agencies. Aid quality is assessed using 30 indicators grouped in four dimensions (maximizing efficiency, fostering institutions, reducing burden, transparency and learning) that reflect the international consensus of what constitutes high-quality aid.

Publish What You Fund Transparency Assessment

Source: Publish What You Fund

Data: Available here

Contents: Transparency scores and rankings of 30 major donors across three categories: high level commitment to transparency; transparency to recipient government; and transparency to civil society.

CGD's Commitment to Development Index -- Aid Component

Source: Center for Global Development

Data: Available here

Contents: Donor nation scores and rankings for foreign aid (in relation to other development policy areas such as trade and security). A donor’s aid score starts with gross disbursements as a percentage of GDP, and is then “quality-adjusted”--discounting tied aid, low selectivity, and high project proliferation, while rewarding a bonus for government policies which encourage private charitable giving for development.

Dummy Variables for IMF Programs and World Bank Projects

Source: Axel Dreher. “IMF and Economic Growth: The Effects of Programs, Loans, and Compliance with Conditionality”. World Development 34 (5): 769-788, 2006

Data: Available here

Contents: This dataset contains yearly dummies for the existence of IMF programs and World Bank projects in 160 countries, as used and described in Boockmann and Dreher (2003) and Dreher (2006).

NGO Aid: 2005

Source: Koch, Dirk-Jan; Axel Dreher; Rainer Thiele and Peter Nunnenkamp. “Keeping a Low Profile: What Determines the Allocation of Aid by Non-Governmental Organizations?” World Development, 37 (5): 902-918, 2008.

Data: Available here

Contents: This dataset contains information on aid expenditures (in Euros) allocated by 61 NGOs in 2005.

Dummy Variables for IMF Non-Compliance

Source: Axel Dreher and Stefanie Walter. “Does the IMF Help or Hurt? The Effect of IMF Programs on the Likelihood and Outcome of Currency Crises”. World Development 38 (1): 1-18, 2010.

Data: Available here

Contents: This database contains a dummy indicating that a country was non-compliant with its IMF program over the 1975-2003 period. As coded in Dreher and Walter (2010), a country is non-compliant when at least 25 percent of the amount agreed under an IMF arrangement remained undrawn at program expiration.

History of U.S. Aid and Reimbursements to Pakistan

Source: Center for Global Development

Data: Available here

Contents: This data set describes budgeted levels of U.S. military and economic assistance to Pakistan for the period from 1948 to 2010. Most of the data is drawn from the U.S. Overseas Grants and Loans database (the U.S. Greenbook). That is complemented by Congressional Research Service estimates of military reimbursements for the period since 2002 and by information on the fiscal year 2010 budget compiled by CRS. All figures are adjusted for inflation and are presented in constant 2009 dollars.

Effective Development Assistance (EDA)

Source: Charles C. Chang, Eduardo Fernandez-Arias and Luis Serven. "Measuring Aid Flows: A New Approach". Policy Research Working Paper #2050, World Bank, 1998.

Data: Available here

Contents: 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. Zip file includes aggregate bilateral annual flows; annual multilateral annual flows; aggregate annual flows from all official sources; and a readme file for detailed description of variables.

USAID Democracy Assistance, 1990-2004

Source: Deepening Our Understanding of the Effects of US Foreign Assistance on Democracy Building. Final Report: Democracy Assistance Project Phase II

Data: Available here

Contents: USAID funding disaggregated into eight categories: Democracy and Governance (DG), Agriculture and Economic Growth, Education, Environment, Health, Humanitarian Assistance, Human Rights (the non-DG components, such as anti-trafficking and assistance to victims of torture), and Conflict Management and Mitigation. USAID Democracy and Governance Assistance is divided into four sub-sectors (Elections, Rule of Law, Civil Society, and Governance); and two subsub-sectors (Human Rights, which is part of Rule of Law, and Mass Media, which is part of Civil Society). Full codebook is available here.

Financing Global Health 2011: Continued Growth as MDG Deadline Approaches (DAH Funding 1990-2008)
Source: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
Data: Available here
Contents: A comprehensive view of trends in public and private financing of health assistance with preliminary estimates for health financing in the most recent years. The 2011 dataset updates previous efforts by including: preliminary estimates for 2010 and 2011 using models and preliminary financial statements obtained directly from channels of assistance; improved estimates of DAH flowing through US-based non-governmental organizations by collecting additional health expenditure data; more accurate DAH estimates by incorporating more detailed World Bank data regarding projects’ intended purposes .

Chinese Aid, Ministry of Commerce Projects, 1990-2005

Source: AidData

Data: Available here

Contents: Chinese foreign aid project-level data reported by China’s Ministry of Commerce, excluding 2002 (for which the ministry reported no project-level data). Supplemented with project monetary amounts from media outlets.

An Index of the Quality of Official Development Assistance in Health
Source: Center for Global Development
Data: Available here
Contents: The Quality of Official Development Assistance (QuODA) methodology is used to rank 30 donors across 23 indicators of aid effectiveness in health, and tracks donors’ progress from 2008-2009. Indicators rely on the premise that health aid effectiveness would increase through increased donor efficiency, reduced burden on recipients, support to local institutions, and transparent reporting practices.

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Research Datasets