In the last few years, numerous econometric studies have unearthed evidence of donor influence over the geographic distribution of funds from international financial institutions (IFIs). Scholars are now beginning to use quantitative methods to delve into the details of donor influence to...

Through case studies and empirical analysis, scholars have uncovered convincing evidence that individual donors influence lending decisions of international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Less clear are the mechanisms by which donors exert...

This paper assesses the impact of World Bank project preparation on project outcomes. Using a stochastic frontier model, I generate a measure of World Bank project preparation duration based on variation in political economy factors that are otherwise exogenous to project outcomes. Panel...

This paper uses monthly World Bank project-level data to assess the impact of upcoming elections in recipient countries on loan activity. We analyze the extent to which geopolitics influence both the timing and size of loan commitments and disbursements. While developing countries have better...

This paper investigates U.S. informal influence in the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) by testing whether IDB loans disburse faster when the borrowing country is geopolitically or economically important to the U.S. The methodology is similar to that in earlier work on the World Bank and...

This paper explores U.S. influence in the World Bank using panel data on World Bank lending to 148 developing countries between 1984 and 2005. I compare a range of UN alignment variables (with differing interpretations), introduce other measures of U.S. interests, and control for voting...

Recent scholarship has uncovered convincing evidence of systematic donor influence in international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank. Less clear is how donors influence IFI decisions. Possible avenues are formal and informal: formal influence through official decisions of the...

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...

This paper uses Freedom House ratings to assess the impact of foreign aid on democracy. We employ an interval regression to account for Freedom House's method of rating countries. A cross-sectional analysis examining the long run effect of aid on democracy in 122 countries between 1972 and 2011...

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.