How does international financial assistance reflect strategic political interests? The "buying influence" argument predicts that countries provide more support to governments that pursue antithetical foreign policy objectives to induce favorable policy shifts. However, such efforts seem unlikely...

This paper examines several aspects of the rehabilitation and reconstruction program that followed the 2004 tsunami in Asia. Almost 230,000 people died in the disaster. We focus on two main issues: aid delivery and reconstruction policy following the disaster. Although issues such as immediate...