This paper extends the concept of the resource curse by studying whether and through which transmission channels natural resource wealth affects social spending. Even though the availability of vast natural capital reserves has commonly been linked to the neglect of human development, most of...

Summary This paper investigates the role of media and monitoring in reducing capture. We analyze data on capture of public expenditures by local officials in Madagascar. Our findings indicate important constraints on decentralization of public service delivery, in particular in remote areas....

This paper studies the political economy of relief allocation using evidence from aid programs after cyclone Gafilo hit Madagascar in 2004. Relief was provided by the government as well as local and international aid agencies. Aid was more likely in areas with a higher need for relief, in more...

This study investigates how government ideology matters for the success of World Bank economic policy loans, which typically support market-liberalizing reforms. A simple model predicts that World Bank staff will invest more effort in designing an economic policy loan when faced with a left-wing...

The European Commission (EC) launched a new aid instrument: the ‘governance incentive tranche’, to incentivise African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP)-governments to carry out governance reforms. This new initiative fails to incorporate the principles spurred by the aid effectiveness debate, to...

This study investigates how government ideology matters for the success of World Bank economic policy loans, which typically support market-liberalizing reforms. A simple model predicts that World Bank staff will invest more effort in designing an economic policy loan when faced with a left-wing...