The Center for Global Development
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About
The Center for Global Development is a think tank based in Washington D.C. working to improve the economic and social development prospects in poor countries via research and outreach to influence the policies of development aid donor countries and lending organizations.
The Commitment to Development Index
The Commitment to Development Index is the premier composite indicator published by the CDG. This indicator attempts to measure which rich countries are doing the most to help poor ones. The CDI ranks the 22 richest nations and their governments on how much they help poor countries through their policies and outcomes regarding seven integral factors:
Aid
Foreign aid is the first policy that comes to mind when people in rich countries think of helping poorer countries. The aid component of the CDI moves beyond standard but narrow comparisons of the quantity of aid governments give, factoring in quality too. It penalizes donors for giving aid to rich or corrupt governments, for overburdening recipients with lots of small aid projects, or for "tying" aid, which forces recipients to spend it on the donor country's own goods rather than shop around for the lowest price. The component also rewards tax deductions and credits that support private charity.
Trade
The trade component of the CDI penalizes countries for erecting barriers to imports of crops, clothing, and other goods from poor nations. It looks at two kinds of barriers: tariffs (taxes) on imports, and subsidies for domestic farmers, which stimulate overproduction and depress world prices. Such barriers deny people in poor countries jobs and income.
Investment
The investment component of the CDI compares rich countries on policies that encourage constructive investment in poor countries. It is based on a checklist of 20 questions. For example, do governments allow public pension funds to invest in poor countries? Do they offer insurance against political risks, such as expropriation, to encourage domestic companies to venture abroad? Do they first check for potential environmental and labor rights abuses in factories to be insured?
Migration
The migration component of the CDI compares rich countries on how easy they make it for people from poor ones to immigrate, find work or get education, send home money--and even return home with new skills and capital.
Environment
The environment component of the CDI compares rich countries on policies that affect shared global resources such as the atmosphere and oceans. Rich countries use these resources disproportionately while poor ones are less equipped to adapt to the consequences, such as global warming. Countries do well if their greenhouse gas emissions are falling, if their gas taxes are high, if they do not subsidize the fishing industry, and if they control imports of illegally cut tropical timber.
Security
The security component of the CDI compares rich countries on military actions that affect developing countries. Rewarded are contributions to international peacekeeping and forcible humanitarian interventions that have an international mandate—unlike the invasion of Iraq but like the NATO intervention in Kosovo. Countries also get points for protecting sea lanes for global trade, but lose them for exporting weapons to authoritarian regimes with heavy military spending.
Technology
The technology component of the CDI analyses policies of the rich countries that support creation and dissemination of new technologies, which can profoundly shape life in developing countries. The component rewards government funding and tax breaks for research and development but penalizes certain patent and copyright rules deemed too restrictive to the flow of ideas across borders.
Results
Overall, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands achieved the highest composite scores in 2010.
Differentiated by category, the folowing countries ranked the highest in their commitment to help poor countires via governmental policies:
1) Quantity and quality of foreign aid: Sweden
2) Openness to developing country exports: New Zealand
3) Policies that encourage investment: Norway
4) Migration policies:Austria
5) Environmental policies: Finland
6) Security policies: United States
7) Support for the creation and dissemination of new technology: Portugal[1]
Click here to view the Commitment to Development Index 2010 interactive maps, and detailed results.
See also
References
- ↑ The Center for Global Development. (2010). The Commitment to Development Index 2010. Retrieved November 25, 2010, from The Center for Global Development: http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_active/cdi/
External links
Commitment to Development Index 2010
Center for Global Development homepage
