While it is widely presumed that development progress in so-called fragile states is lagging behind, only very limited empirical analysis exists that investigates to what extent the levels and trends in the MDGs differ significantly between fragile and other developing countries, and between...

This paper takes a fresh look at three issues in the aid effectiveness debate. First, we assess the theoretical case for foreign aid. Using an endogenous growth version of the standard overlapping generations model, we show that aid can be an effective policy tool in spurring growth in poor...

It is useful from time to time to revisit the pioneers in a field. The richness of their original thought is often diminished as new specialists in a field are educated or, rather, trained. Stylized caricatures and toy models out-compete nuanced multidisciplinary narratives in the competition...

The typical identification strategy in aid effectiveness studies assumes donor motives do not influence the impact of aid on growth. We call this homogeneity assumption into question, first constructing a model in which donor motives matter and then testing the assumption empirically.

The typical identification strategy in aid effectiveness studies assumes donor motives do not influence the impact of aid on growth. We call this homogeneity assumption into question, first constructing a model in which donor motives matter and then testing the assumption empirically.

We present evidence on the effects of aid transfers and their degree of volatility on economic growth and show that these effects can be categorised in relation to the allocation of foreign aid between productive and non-productive purposes. Using a stochastic endogenous growth model, we provide...

In multiple regressions, explanatory variables with simple correlation coefficients with the dependent variable below 0.1 in absolute value (such as aid with economic growth) may have very large and statistically significant estimated parameters which are unfortunately �"outliers driven" and...

Wright (2008) investigates how the impact of foreign aid on GDP growth in dictatorships depends on the dictator’s time horizon, i.e., how much longer the dictator expects to be in office. The empirical analysis finds a strong positive impact of aid on growth for dictators with long time...

Using cointegration and error correction mechanism, this paper investigates the effectiveness of aid in Nepal during the period 1983-2002. Specifically, it examines the long-run relationship between aid and per capita real GDP. To address the current debate on whether aid works only in a good...

In this paper, we examine the aid-growth-poverty relation by using quantile regression, which enables us to estimate the impact of growth and growth enhancing policies at different quantiles in the conditional distribution of poverty. The coefficient estimates in a quantile regression capture...