Op-ed in Dagens Nyheter: Government cuts foreign aid without knowing what works
Foreign aid policy requires continuous interaction between researchers and practitioners, write Andreas Madestam and Jakob Svensson, professors of economics at Stockholm University, in an op-ed in Dagens Nyheter, Sweden’s largest morning newspaper.
Andreas Madestam, Professor of Economics, Stockholm University.
Sida’s budget cut by SEK 4 billion
The government emphasizes that development aid should be evidence-based and cost-effective, yet Sida’s budget will be reduced by SEK 4 billion next year. Without improved monitoring and evaluation, major reallocations risk being made without sufficient evidence of what works, Madestam and Svensson argue.
They also criticize Sida, Sweden’s development agency, for lacking both an evaluation policy and sufficient internal expertise. While the agency has pledged to collaborate with Swedish researchers, it relies in practice on short-term consultancy contracts. ”Knowledge purchased through short-term consultancy contracts rarely becomes institutional knowledge,” the authors write.
Three proposed reforms
Madestam and Svensson propose three reforms: A joint innovation and evaluation fund where Sida and researchers test and scale up what works, an increased research capacity within Sida, and a permanent evaluation institute for development aid, modeled on the Swedish labor market institute IFAU. Without such structures, demands for evidence risk remaining rhetorical rather than forming the basis for policy decisions. ”Those of us who believe in the potential of development aid want to see these structures in place,” they conclude.
Further reading
Andreas Madestam’s research focuses on development economics and political economics. Jakob Svensson is affiliated with the Institute for International Economic Studies.
Last updated: 2026-01-14
Source: Department of Economics