Mutual Priority and Aid Effectiveness: Is S outh K orea a Major Donor to its Major Recipients?

If donor and recipient countries act with mutual priority with regard to official development assistance ( ODA ), the recipient can manage the ODA with less transaction cost and the donor can pay extra attention to its recipient with more responsibility for development. For example, the U nited S tates and J apan used to be S outh K orea's primary donors and S outh K orea used to be their primary recipient, as well. This could be a factor explaining the effectiveness of aid that S outh K orea had received in the past. However, this mutual priority is not observed when S outh K orea is disbursing its ODA as a donor. Policies of providing more ODA to stronger commercial ties as well as the current international trend of donor proliferation and recipient fragmentation may explain this.