The Impact of Bilateral Official Development Assistance on Human Development in Selected Asian Countries

The economic structure in oil-dependent countries is different from other countries. The human development index (HDI) may increase due to rising oil rents and subsequent increases in per capita income, but there may be no significant improvement in other indicators (literacy rate and life expectancy). The improper injection of oil rents into the countrychr('39')s budget without investing in manufacturing, agriculture and services, whether domestically or abroad, leads to the Dutch disease and “resource curse”. Bilateral official development assistance (BODA) from the members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) can have a positive impact on human development without having a negative impact on various economic and social aspects. In this regard, this study examines the impact of BODA on human development using a Panel-Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (Panal-FMOLS) model in selected countries (Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Yemen, Jordan, Azerbaijan and Georgia from Southwest Asia, and Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar from Southeast Asia) during 1999-2018. The results indicate that BODA and health expenditure have positive and significant effects on HDI. The findings also indicate a significant negative impact of oil rent, population growth rate and unemployment rate on HDI. The effect of personal remittances is different in the two samples, so that these funds have negative impact on HDI in the Southwest Asia and a positive effect on HDI in the Southeast Asia.