Representation in International Development: Evidence from USAID Missions

• In Event: New Frontiers in Gender and Political Economy

Abstract

Does the gender of bureaucrats working in foreign policy agencies matter in their organization’s effectiveness? A burgeoning strand of research shows that empowering women in decision-making can engender beneficial governance and developmental outcomes, such as lower levels of corruption and greater spending on public goods (e.g., Chattopadhyay and Duflo 2004, Brollo and Troiano 2012). While much of this work has focused on female politicians, such as legislators, mayors, and national leaders, there is scant scholarship on the role of female bureaucrats, especially particularly at the international level. In day-to-day affairs, bureaucrats can exercise considerable discretion in the implementation of the organization’s objectives, such as setting priorities and budget, managing staff, and implementing projects. Empirically, however, it may be difficult to assign bureaucrats to specific outcomes. Studying the spending decisions associated with specific bureaucrats who are in managerial positions may offer one way to circumvent this challenge.

In this paper, I study whether the gender composition of bureaucrats in the world’s largest bilateral international development agency matters. I compile the full corpus of mission directors (MDs) for the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) since its inception in 1964 to evaluate whether the gender of a MD affects her country assignment and the subsequent composition and efficacy of US aid disbursements (to that assigned country). The analysis reveals that while the share of female MDs has gradually increased over time, the countries they are assigned to differ systematically from their male counterparts. To quantify the importance of gender on outcomes, I show how transitions from male to female MDs are associated with changes in the composition of US aid disbursements. To attribute this association causally, I exploit plausibly exogeneous churning in MDs associated with changes in political leadership at the top of USAID as an instrumental variable. Finally, as an extension to the main analysis, I study an additional dimension of an individual’s identity (representation): ethnicity/race. Since 2000, USAID has posted biographies and a picture of each country MD online. I use these profile pictures to identify a MD’s ethnicity and study whether this also matters in her country assignment. Together, the paper suggests that a MD’s gender and ethnic identity may matter in international politics and development.

Author

• Faisal Z. Ahmed, Wellesley College