The impacts of Official development assistance and Foreign Direct Investment on Human Development in Less Developed Countries

Official development assistance is an instrument to help the development of less developed countries in the socio-economic contexts. These aids play vital role in the human development of needy communities by reducing poverty, strengthening infrastructure, and improving the education and health systems. In addition, foreign direct investment is one of the important methods of financing development projects, transfer of production techniques and knowledge and the source of change in management approach in both developing and less developed countries. Foreign aids and foreign direct investment may reinforce each other or affect economic and social development in different ways. Foreign aids and financial resources alone cannot change the development process fundamentally. The efficient and accountable government is an important and complementary factor in enjoying the benefits of this type of resources, while mismanagement in receiving aids and attracting foreign investment leads to continued poverty, unemployment, corruption and the accumulation of external debt. This study examines the impacts of official development assistance and foreign direct investment on human development in 24 less developed countries (LDCs) during 2000-2018. The research model was estimated using random effects using panel data in the Eviews software. According to the results, official development assistance and foreign direct investment have both positive and significant effects on the human development index. Also, the human development index increases, when government effectiveness rises in the selected group. Therefore, LDCs can improve the development process by increasing the government effectiveness and the appropriate spending of official aids and foreign investments.