Research Article

Global Flow of Foreign Aid and Change in Recipients’ Local Labor Institutions

Table 1

Variable descriptions.

VariableDescriptionSourceRange

Dependent variables
LILabor institutional distance between a pair of recipient and giver, calculated based on scores reported for labor market regulationEFW[−6, 6]
HRMW_LISubscores for hiring regulations and minimum wage in bilateral distance measures
HFR_LISubscores for hiring and firing regulations in bilateral distance measures
CCB_LISubscores for centralized collective bargaining rights in bilateral distance measures
HR_LISubscores for hours regulations in bilateral distance measures
MCWD_LISubscores for the mandated cost of worker dismissal in bilateral distance measures
CONS_LISubscores for conscription in bilateral distance measures

Independent variables
Actual_AidActual bilateral aid flow over the recipient’s GDPAidData%
Predicted_AidPredicted bilateral aid flow over the recipient’s GDP

Control variables
LN_GDPLn of GDP in bilateral distance measuresWorld Bank’s World Development Indicators Database
LN_GDPCLn of GDP per capita in bilateral distance measures
TradeTotal trade volume over GDP in bilateral distance measures
LifeExpThe average life expectancy in bilateral distance measures
UrbanUrban population over total population in bilateral distance measures

Instrumental variables
NDLn of the number of occurrences of natural disasters plus 1The International Disasters DatabaseLn (n + 1)
AFLn of the number of people affected by natural disasters plus 1Ln (n + 1)
TRLn of the number of terrorist attacks on recipient countries plus 1Global Terrorism DatabaseLn (n + 1)