The paper responds to a comment by John Weeks on an earlier article by the authors. He maintains that the macroeconomic index used in that article was 'invalid for its purpose', and that the survey evidence of poverty change was inconsistent with national accounts data. The authors maintain that...

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) give aid to Africa a new emphasis. Yet aid flows to Africa have trended downward over the last decade, and as a consequence more Africans now live in poverty. This is especially true of Sub-Saharan Africa. Any progress towards the main MDG target of...

The relationship between an economy's financial sector and the occurrence and resolution of conflict may at first sight appear tenuous. Banking systems, financial regulation, and currency arrangements do not appear to be relevant in understanding why nations collapse or why people kill each...

Understanding the development effects of official aid is crucial to building a better bridge between research and policy. This paper reviews the current evidence regarding the impact of aid on growth and poverty reduction, and develops a new narrative. In the light of this narrative, the paper...

The last two years have seen intensifying political violence in Zimbabwe. Could Zimbabwe slide further into political and economic turmoil? Or are there sufficient checks and balances in the social system to halt decline? The paper argues that the failed economic stabilization of the 1990s led...

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