| Abstract: |
We build and implement a normative procedure to allocate international aid
based on equality of opportunity concerning the risk of poverty. This is an
alternative to Collier and Dollar’s proposal (2001) which stresses the impact
of aid on worldwide poverty reduction. The big problem with their approach, as
regards distributive justice, is that it leaves very great inequality in
poverty risk between inhabitants of countries with widely varying structural
disadvantages. We draw on post-welfarist theories of social justice,
especially those of John Roemer. However our proposal is very different to
that of Llavador and Roemer (2001), which has serious methodological errors
and reaches contradictory conclusions. Our proposed allocations, like those of
Collier and Dollar, differ from current aid allocation by giving more to the
poorest countries. Apart from this agreement, our equality of opportunity
principle takes account of structural disadvantages to growth rather than
quality of past policies. Our kind of allocation shares out poverty risks much
more fairly among the world’s population, while reducing global poverty almost
as effectively as Collier and Dollar\'s. |