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Katie Wildman
William Christenson
Poli 379
21 November 2016

Accessibility to Foreign Aid within Societies of High Levels of Inequality

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Nations attempt to co-exist around the world through alliances, treaties and giving

foreign aid to other nations when necessary. Generally speaking, it is the wealthy nations that

are the providers of foreign aid to poorer nations because the poor nations do not have the

resources to provide for themselves, thus requiring help from another country. Foreign aid can

range anywhere from visas to monetary funds to military support. Poor nations lack the

fundamental access to resources that would help them compete in this ever-changing complex

world therefore concluding that they need to receive foreign aid from more advanced nations for

survival. Some nations have become dependent on foreign aid because it is impossible for its

nation to ever survive on its own. Receiving foreign aid from other nations is beneficial to

nations in need; however, there are many flaws with the system.

While spending time in Mexico, I was able to see a first-hand example of the inequalities

in the access to foreign aid and the differing levels of satisfaction between the classes. While in

Merida, Mexico, I spent time with a high income family whom were very self-sufficient and

could easily afford expensive goods. Everyone in the household (four members total), had been

to the United States multiple times. They explained the ease of getting a visa to America,

whether it was a student visa or a travel visa. They just had to pay a set amount to the state and

would receive a visa within a few weeks. While in Texcoco, Mexico, I spent time with a low

income family. According to them, they were not impoverished but after spending time in

Merida, the lifestyle and family income differences were apparent. One family in Texcoco

received news in late July about their visa to America getting approved for a travel visa for one

week. This family had been waiting two years to receive a visa. The family had to validate

employment and provide copious examples of income statements and housing deeds. The

employment verification was the most important part because the state wanted to ensure that the
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family would not stay in America illegally if they were granted a visa. They also recently had a

child, which set the process back even further. Once the wife found out she was pregnant, the

state said they would have to wait 9 months before getting to visa to make sure the child was not

born in America. The vast inequality in the standard of living greatly influenced the states

inclination to provide foreign accessibility to a member of a high income over a member of a

lower income. The stark differences between these families demonstrate the inequality between

the level of accessibility of foreign aid across a nation.

When looking at the accessibility of foreign aid across nations, there is much inequality

that causes an imbalance in social classes in society. The elites of the nations tend to be the ones

in control and receiving the most benefits from the state. So why is accessibility to foreign aid

within societies of high levels of inequality so different? Foreign aid is more approved because

of accessibility to the markets on an individual level. When looking at where aid is needed, it

will be unhelpful because the necessary institutions are lacking, therefore making it impossible

for the state to divide the resources to different institutions and thus making the state go down to

the individual level (Williamson). It is much easier for the state to grant foreign aid to an

individual than make an overarching statement of giving foreign aid to all its constituents. To

make foreign aid access work at an individual level, the process becomes much more complex

and time consuming for the state. Foreign aid could be granted to a state, but then it would come

down to the individual reasoning of why the individual should receive the aid. However, some

nations cannot survive without foreign aid, therefore it is up to the state to determine how to go

about giving out aid. Although it is corrupt, it is easier for the elites to bribe the state with

money or other goods to receive their foreign aid over the poorer members of society. Sadly, as

seen in the case in Mexico, the bribery happens more often that countries would like to admit.
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The access to foreign aid across social classes in nations is unbalanced because of bribery by the

elites.

When looking at the individual level of access to the aid, there are many factors that

could apply to granting the individual service. One could conduct a survey experiment looking

at what benefits the individual would receive based on their level of need of the aid. When

looking specifically at visas, there could be a variety of types of visas that could apply to

different applicants for example an educational visa versus a work visa versus a travel visa.

Countries might be more willing to grant educational visas and travel visas instead of a work visa

because of the fear of illegal immigration. Studies typically show that illegal immigrants do not

apply for visas if they are planning to illegally immigrate somewhere, but nations still fear illegal

immigrant through visas. Educational visas could be argued to be the most important foreign aid

that could be given to poor nations. Education is the most tangible outcome of which is the

contribution that aid makes to expanding enrolments especially of basic education (Riddell).

Educational visas to other nations with superior education opportunities could be seen as a

domino effect, where children or young adult go to these higher performing nations to receive an

education and then they return to their nation and share what they have learned. The theory of

educational visas is a trickle-down theory, but if it works, it could be argued that it is the most

beneficial way to improve the status of an undeveloped nation.

But to what extent are states willing to accept foreign aid and what concession will be

provided for the involved parties? Sadly, most nations are greedy and are not willing to give

without receiving something in return. This trade could range from anything from the creation of

an alliance to natural resources. Whatever the concession is, it would ultimately benefit the

nation giving the aid, usually at a cheaper cost because of the state of the nation that requires the
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aid. If the nation giving foreign aid requires it to be accessible to more individuals, then the

nation might have to comprise and create immigration reform to allow for the increased foreign

aid they are providing. With these concessions there are lots of compromise involved, but

ultimately comes down to if the nation in need is willing enough to agree to the terms laid out by

the wealthy nation providing the aid. There, also, has to be a level of trust between the nations,

which is a superb example of a collect action problem. If one nation gives aid and asked for

natural resources in return, there is no way to measure if the nation will actually give the

resources. Similarly, there is no way to measure that if the nation received the resources, they

will give the aid to the country. There must be a level of trust between the two nations for this

idea to work, but there is no guarantee that it will succeed.

After a nation receives foreign aid, one must look at the publics opinion of foreign aid.

From an outsiders perspective, the foreign aid could sound like it is helping many people and

being well received, but it is hard to get a real view until you talk to the citizens. It is hard,

especially in nations with authoritarian ruling, to get the public to speak candidly about some

topics. Foreign aid can be disapproved, especially if does not benefit some parts of society. As

discussed in the previous paragraph about concession, some members of society may never

receive any aspect of the foreign aid but may have to give a proceed of their profit or goods to

the state so that the state can fulfill its concession to the nation which granted the aid. Clearly in

this situation, the worker who receives no aid but has to work harder would disapprove of the

foreign aid because foreign aid only makes the workers life more difficult without any

improvement. In the surveys, I would ask the participants if they had trust in their government

or even more specifically if they had trust that the government was doing what was best for the
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public. By starting and discussing trust, one can gauge how the individual feels about the

government and the different services that the government provides to its nation.

Similarly, the nation that gives the aid is also receiving some recognition for its grant. Of

course the citizens want to believe that their country is giving aid to help a country in need, but

that is not always the case. Countries give aid to internationally prove that they are successful

and powerful enough to sustain their own economy as well as provide for the economies of other

countries. For example, the United States give Israel 3.1 Billion dollars each year in foreign aid.

That is an absurd amount of money, but on the international spectrum it shows surrounding

countries the relationship that Israel and the United States. In some cases, foreign aid can work

to nations advantages but the foreign aid is used more as a front for the nation giving the aid and

does not actually help the citizens in the nation. The nation that gives out aid wants to be seen as

a nation that helps other nations, but unfortunately that is not the only reason nations give foreign

aid.

In researching the question, one must first create a cross national survey work to

determine if this problem occurs in every countries or is specified to certain nations. There are

many factors that play into the importance of the levels of trust and accessibility to foreign aid

for example regime types and employability of a nation. Of course each country is different, but

overall this problem is occurring in many countries, therefore it should be studied in many

countries. In a perfect world with unlimited resources, I would conduct this country in as many

countries as possible but since that is not feasible, I would narrow my search to look at a

randomly selected group of countries that the United States gives foreign aid too. After

researching where the US gives foreign aid, I randomly select to do a cross national survey study
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in Israel, Mexico, Afghanistan, Colombia, Nigeria and Egypt. These countries vary in

demographic, population and size but they all receive a vast amount from the United States in

foreign aid. If the studies go well and researchers are able to find valuable information, then I

would suggest doing more studies in more countries that receive foreign aid from the United

States, but for starting the study these countries are acceptable.

After the countries have been selected, I would have researchers go to these countries and

distribute surveys to people from all different socio-economic classes. For the participants who

are illiterate, I would have the proctor give the survey orally, because one cannot assume that

everyone receiving the survey will be literate. This factor of illiteracy is extremely important

because the survey would be reaching out to many uneducated and unfunded areas of nations. I

would determine socio economic class by creating income groups, such as if you make over

$1,000,000.00 a year, you would be in the wealthiest class. In the survey, there would be a

question about income but because income is a sensitive subject for some people, it would be

presented in a range so as the individual would not have to reveal too much about itself. There

would simple demographic questions on the survey such as gender, age, religion, employment (if

employed), annual income and if they had received any formal education. Then I would give

survey questions about foreign aid and accessibility to the aid. There would also be questions

about the government and the levels of trust the participants have in their government. There

are, of course, always flaws in a survey: some people will not take it seriously, others will not

answer truthfully, others will not understand some of the questions being asked, but hopefully if I

could reach a large enough audience (survey about 1000 people in each country), then the

outliers will stick out and real evidence of the populations opinion on the accessibility to foreign

aid will be apparent. After the survey collection time was completed, I would go back and look
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over the results and draw conclusions as to either support or reject the hypothesis or if the study

needs more examples to make the argument valid.

Foreign aid is a necessary service that nations across the world benefit from but there are

serious flaws in the system within the nations that receive the aid that must be address for a more

equal world. It could be argued that by increasing the distribution of foreign aid across all levels

of society could actually create a better future for these nations. By giving the rich and the poor

the same access to resources, the nation would internationally become more equal because now

not only the rich would be benefiting from the goods provided to the nation by other nations. If

the nation giving the aid makes concessions in regards to foreign aid, there must be a level of

trust between the two nations that the concessions will be met. There is also an accountability on

the state to honestly distribute the foreign aid amongst its population. This theory of evenly

distributing foreign aid to all social classes in societies is conceptually simple to understand, but

in reality is difficult to achieve.

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Bibliography

Riddell, Abby, Nio-Zaraza, Miguel (2016). The effectiveness of foreign aid to education: What
can be learned? International Journal of Educational Development, 48, 23-36.

Williamson, Claudia R. (2009). Exploring the failure of foreign aid: The role of incentives and
information. Rev Austrian Econ.