On International Transfers from Rich to Poor Nations

A major shortcoming of the theoretical literature on international transfers is that it is not at all clear whether the welfare results obtained are consistent with transfers flowing from rich to poor nations. This is because economists hardly ever model the difference in wealth between the donor and recipient nations. This paper shows that, contrary to the literature, when international transfers are modeled explicitly to flow from rich to poor nations, donor-enriching recipient-impoverishing international transfers in a world which is accumulating capital may not exist