Policy advocates argue for the transformation of non-government Microfinance Organisations (MFOs) into shareholder owned firms (SHFs). This paper investigates whether the proposed superiority of shareholder owned MFOs is empirically supported. The findings indicate that the difference between...

This paper surveys five decades of empirical research on the macroeconomic impact of aid, looking mainly at studies examining the link between aid and growth. It argues that studies dating until the late 1990s produced either contradictory or inconclusive results. Aid either worked, or it...

Assessing Aid argues that aid should be reallocated in favour of poor countries with good policies. This argument is based on a model in which poverty depends on growth, and growth on aid, the impact of aid being higher in countries with good policies. So-called 'poverty-efficient' aid...