Loras College

The Ethicality of Foreign Aid

Kristin Manders

ECO236-01 - Quest for Ethical Development

Dr. Maskay

4/16/20
 The Ethicality of Foreign Aid

Each year, the United States government gives out billions of dollars worth of foreign aid

to other countries. This aid is intended to provide development efforts, humanitarian relief, and

peace to countries that need it. The idea of foreign aid raises many ethical questions, questioning

whether the money is well spent on other countries rather than within the US itself. In 2018, the

US poverty rate was at 11.8 percent. This is a numerous amount of Americans that struggle to

provide their family with adequate food, shelter, clothing, and healthcare. In developing

countries, their struggles tend to be far greater. Here many people are sick without easy access to

water, some without homes. The United States has a limited amount of resources, raising the

question of who should they help, their own people or other nations? It is ethical for the United

States to provide foreign aid despite the poor in the US, because of Richard Kyte’s four-way

method of ethical decision-making, the principals of moral reasoning, and the principals of

Catholic Social Teaching.

One way to solve this ethical dilemma is to view it through the lens of Richard Kyte’s

four-way method for ethical decision-making. This method breaks down ethical decision-making

into four pieces: truth, consequences, fairness, and character. For the true category, we know that

both the United States’ poor and other developing countries would benefit from the additional

money. We also know that the United States has a finite amount of resources, and must choose

how to divide it. This is through the USAID, which has a budget of $40 billion. The next method

for ethical decision-making is consequences. If the United States gives its money to its own

people, the people in developing countries will continue to be poor and underdeveloped. If the

United States gives its money to the developing countries, the poor in the US will continue to be
poor by the US standards. The consequences of not giving the money to developing countries is

far greater. This is because most of the poorest people in the United States are still wealthier than

those in developing countries. About 3.1 billion people worldwide live in absolute poverty,

making less than $2.50 USD a day. That is about half of the world, and most poor people by US

standards make more than $2.50 a day. Not helping the developing countries has far greater

consequences than not helping the poor in the United States, because the developing countries

need the money more. The next method for ethical decision-making is fairness. Both the US

giving money to their poor and the US giving money to developing countries is fair in the

general sense that the US is helping people out. Where the unfairness comes into play is the fact

that the US is putting resources in one area when those resources could go to a different area.

The US citizens might view it as unfair if the US gives too much foreign aid, because the US

government is expected to help its own people first. Other countries might view it unfair if the

US is helping its own people first, even though those from developing nations need it more. For

these reasons, there is a balance between how many resources the US should allocate to each

cause, therefore, providing some support to developing countries is ethical. The final category

for ethical decision-making is character. When the US provides foreign aid, the developing

country is expected to use these resources to increase their well-being and to become self-

sufficient. This also improves the relations between the two countries, making them more

virtuous to each other. The other side to this though is the possibility that the developing country

could become reliant on this foreign aid. They could also be utilizing these resources in the

wrong way or putting them in the wrong place. That is why foreign aid alone usually is not

enough to help a developing country out of poverty. Overall, Richard Kyte’s four-way method
for ethical decision-making leans towards the ethicality of providing foreign aid to developing

countries.

Another way of viewing the ethicality of the US providing foreign aid to developing

countries is by looking at it through the three principals of moral reasoning. These three

principals are Kantism, Consequentialism, and Virtue Ethics. The idea of Kantism is that the

individual is more focused on what is right or wrong versus which outcome has the best end

state. Someone with Kantism reasoning would likely want the US to provide more help for its

own people. This is because people tend to feel more justified helping out people like

themselves, rather than people who are very different. For this reason, some people might think it

is more moral to help people in their own countries rather than other countries. Kantists may also

think that giving foreign aid is more ethical because it is a ‘good’ thing to do based on the views

of society. People with the Consequentialism reasoning have a completely different outlook.

Consequentialists tend to look at the consequences of different options and pick the one with the

best outcome or resting place. People with this outlook are likely to say that it is more ethical to

give foreign aid to developing countries. This is because the people in developing countries are

in need of more resources than the poor in the US, making it more valuable to the developing

nations. This also follows the law of diminishing returns. Since the poor in the US already have

more than developing nations, giving $10, for example, would help the developing nations more

than the poor in the US. Alternatively, a Consequentialist could be in favor of the US giving

more resources to its poor. If a Consequentialist is more focused on the self-interest of improving

their own country, they would want the US to give resources to its own poor. The last principal

of moral reasoning is Virtue Ethics. This principal focuses on the character of the individual

rather than the situation itself. Every person is different, and will view different situations as
ethical for different reasons. If you asked a poor individual in the US about their views, they

would likely say that the US giving money to their poor rather than developing nations is more

ethical. This is because the poor individual could have some bias to the situation because they

are the ones currently living in it, and would know how the resources would help. A different

person might view foreign aid as more ethical, because they feel more inclined to help others that

could need it more. These principals of reasoning are not a good indicator of if a choice is ethical

or not, because each one has different and conflicting viewpoints to others. These principals are

good though for classifying individuals into different schools of thought, and predicting their

choices later.

The ethicality of the US providing foreign aid can be observed through the key principals

of Catholic Social Teaching. Catholic Social Teaching talks about human dignity, and how life is

very sacred and should be protected. For these reasons, the US giving foreign aid to developing

nations follows these teachings. Giving them these resources would greatly improve their quality

of life, and would improve it more than if the US gave it to its own poor. Catholicism also talks

about how everybody has a right to life, and it is his or her responsibility to uphold this. Another

Catholic Social Teaching is option for the poor and vulnerable. This one states that we need to

protect the poor and vulnerable, and put their needs first. The developing nations are more poor

and vulnerable than the poor in the US, so Catholics are called to help the developing nations

over the poor in the US. Catholic Social Teaching also talks about the role of the government,

and how it should protect its people. Many developing nations do not have stable governments,

and providing aid could help them establish a stronger one that can help govern the will of its

people. Generally, Catholic Social Teaching teaches that it is very ethical to provide foreign aid

to developing countries.
 Overall, providing foreign aid is very ethical given Richard Kyte’s four-way method of

ethical decision-making, the principals of moral reasoning, and the principals of Catholic Social

Teaching. This result is not conclusive though because everybody has different morals and

biases. Essentially, there are pros and cons of each decision, so there is a balance that needs to be

obtained.

Sources:

Fields, Gary S. “Poverty and Low Earnings in the Developing World.” Cornell University, 2011,

digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1151&context=workingpapers.

“ForeignAssistance.gov.” ForeignAssistance.gov, 2020, www.foreignassistance.gov/.

Rooney, Matthew. “Q&A: Why Should the U.S. Provide Foreign Aid to Another Country?:

Bush Center.” Q&A: Why Should the U.S. Provide Foreign Aid to Another Country? | Bush

Center, 4 Apr. 2019, www.bushcenter.org/publications/articles/2019/4/foreign-aid.html.