"Every international development project looks good on paper until someone asks, "Who are you and why are you here?" In this case, it's a man from northern Burkina Faso. His question reveals everything wrong with international development work today. Jacques Claessens questions the real effects...

Using geo-referenced data on development projects by the World Bank and China, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the effect of aid on conflict using fixed effects and instrumental variables strategies. The results show that aid projects seem to reduce rather than fuel conflict, on average....