Dissertation

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Foreign Assistance in a Comparative Perspective.

While traditional foreign assistance datasets include military and security assistance, my dataset analyzes the distribution of Official Development Assistance only to isolate the effect of ODA flows on a variety of outcomes. Specifically, I tackle two complex questions: 1) The recipient dynamics of U.S. and Chinese foreign assistance, testing whether or not assistance is modulated by great power competition; 2) Does global foreign assistance help mitigate the flow of international migration in the event of a variety of migration push factors including climate shocks, internal conflict, and economic recessions.

About Abhik

Abhik Kumar Pramanik is a Doctoral Student in the Department of Public Policy with a particular interest in studying the economic impact of international government interventions in developing countries.

Abhik graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2015, with a degree in Political Economy. After graduating, Abhik spent a year in South Korea on a Fulbright Grant.

Before joining UNC, Abhik worked in foreign policy advocacy in Washington D.C., with a focus on protecting America’s development and diplomacy programs. Abhik is also a member of the Royster Society of Fellows at UNC.