Foreign aid, leisure–effort choice, and economic growth

Using an endogenous growth model, this paper examines the growth and welfare effects of foreign aid in the recipient economy. The emphasis is on the incentive factor of the effort–leisure choice. Besides financing public services, part of the aid is transferred to the public. This increases individual wealth, thereby providing less incentives to individuals for human capital acquisition, but with more leisure. Thus, foreign aid may not always help the growth and welfare of the economy. Taking this incentive factor into account, we further study the issue on aid allocation in achieving the highest levels of growth and welfare. Along the balanced growth path, aid allocation for welfare maximization is different from that under growth maximization.