Why and how might a new measure of development cooperation be helpful?

Research reports and studies
September 2016
Homi Kharas and Andrew Rogerson

There has been much recent discussion of creating additional measures for international development cooperation, starting with Total Official Support for Sustainable Development, or TOSSD, which includes all officially supported resource flows to promote sustainable development at developing country, regional and global levels.

This report steps back from debates around what should be included or excluded from TOSSD and instead explores the practical challenges of measuring development finance. If useful information can be provided relatively cheaply, then there is a strong case to make it accessible and improve the transparency of development cooperation. On the other hand, if a large new statistical exercise is required, the cost-benefit calculus becomes more complex.