Politics or policy: A network approach to the market for the allocation of development finance for renewable energy projects

The Institute of Economics will hold the next meeting of its Seminar Series on Tuesday, March 21, 2023: Cristina Penasco from the University of Cambridge will present the paper "Politics or policy: A network approach to the market for the allocation of development finance for renewable energy projects".

Abstract:

The transition to low carbon economies is essential for economic development in developing economies and it opens venues for developed countries to think strategically about energy and foreign policy in a changing geopolitical context in which energy security and climate goals and targets need to go hand in hand. Analysing how bilateral aid for renewable energy projects is allocated is crucial to understand if donor countries prioritize social and environmental goals or if their motives are less altruistic and more focused on their own economic and strategic benefits in the global context of the geopolitics of the energy transition. To examine how development aid for renewable energy projects is allocated across countries we pay attention to donor and recipient characteristics and interactions but also to donor-donor strategic relationships. We use a two-step strategy based on quantitative social network analysis and panel data models to examine the technical, economic or geopolitical motives determining the allocation of bilateral aid for projects on non-emitting energy sources from 2000 to 2018 with OECD-CRS data. Using the degree centrality of the recipient to measure the concentration of RE ODA and therefore, the importance of a donor within the recipient’s network, we analyse the motivations behind the strategic donations of countries.

The seminar will be held in person in Aula 3 (Sede Centrale); online participation is possible at this link.