CGD and FP "Rank the Rich"
May 5, 2003
by Center for Global Development, "Foreign Policy" Magazine
Do the policies of rich countries help-or hinder-development in poorer countries? In April, the Center for Global Development and "Foreign Policy" magazine released the first edition of their Commitment to Development Index (CDI), which rates 21 rich donor countries on how much their government's policies help development in poorer countries.
The index measures policies in six areas-foreign aid, trade, investment, migration, peacekeeping, and environment. Countries receive a 0-to-10 score in each area; the average is their overall CDI score.
The CDI assesses policy effort rather than impact, so that, for example, a small nation such as Denmark can rank tops on aid even though it gives less in absolute terms than larger countries such as the United Kingdom. In fact, the two biggest countries in the index, the United States and Japan, score 20th and 21st overall, respectively. Meanwhile the Netherlands, Denmark, and Portugal fill out the top three slots.
Link: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/story.php?storyID=13656 [ HTML]
Keywords: Center for Global Development, commitment to development, index, aid, rank, policy coherence