In the study "Do elites benefit from democracy and foreign aid in developing countries" (Journal of Development Economics, 2009) Bjørnskov asks if political elites benefit from foreign aid relative to the rest of the population. He concludes that his results provide qualified support for the...

An important feature of aid to developing countries is that it is given to the government. As a result, aid should be expected to affect fiscal behaviour. Traditional approaches to modelling fiscal effects are beset by theoretical and empirical problems. This paper applies techniques developed...

It is common practice in empirical development macroeconomics to use cross-country samples for econometric analyses. One issue that is rarely addressed in this literature is the appropriateness of pooling when panels are used. In particular, does it matter to the results if the countries exhibit...

This paper provides a critical analysis of the growth regressions in Burnside and Dollar (2000). First, we analyze the relation between aid and government expenditure in a modified neoclassical growth model. We find that while good policies spur growth they may at the same time lead to...

A number of recent cross-country studies have revitalised the debate on the effectiveness of aid. While there is mounting evidence that aid does contribute to growth, there is some dispute as to whether good policy is a necessary condition for aid effectiveness. This paper is a contribution to...

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...

There is a widespread perception among academic researchers and aid practitioners alike that empirical cross-country analysis fails to find any significant link between aid flows and growth, and that aid is successful only when associated with good policies in the recipient countries. These...

This paper examines the relationship between foreign aid and growth in real GDP per capita as it emerges from simple augmentations of popular cross-country growth specifications. It is shown that aid in all likelihood increases the growth rate, and this result is not conditional on "good"...

This paper demonstrates that an empirical link between aid and trade exist (for some donor-recipient pairs), but that the nature of this linkage is complex and can take a variety of forms. By identifying this complexity (and variability) we challenge the assertion, often made in debates...