This paper quantifies the factors underlying the allocations of food aid by the Ethiopian
government, together with local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), both
across rural regions and to households within regions. We focus on ‘‘reduced form’’ specifications in
which as little structure as possible is put on the decision rules, because so little is known about these
rules and their implementation. Nationally representative, rural household data from Ethiopia,
collected in 1996, are used. The paper determines the extent to which food aid (both free distribution
and food-for-work) is targeted to poor households and communities. We also demonstrate that food
aid allocations display a large degree of spatial continuity over time, and are concentrated in areas
that, at least during the time of the survey, are not the poorest. The paper attempts to disentangle two
competing explanations for the apparent spatial rigidity of food aid allocations: that the recipient
areas are chronically needy, or that needs shift geographically from 1 year to the next, but that fixed
costs in setting up operations and in the process of identifying needs lead to a degree of inertia in the
location of food aid programs over time. We conclude that the evidence best fits the inertia
explanation. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.