The list of illness afflicting Angolan society is a long one: political instability, civil war, macroeconomic mismanagement, and the desperation born of poverty. A profound sense of uncertainty afflicts all levels of society - the government (and its opponents), entrepreneurs and rural and urban...

The last twenty years has seen an extensive and exhausting debate on how to improve the institutions of African states. But progress has been patchy at best. Many of the problems arise from a ‘partial-reform equilibrium’; initial reforms are undertaken, but then strong resistance is...

This book addresses several gaps in knowledge of aid allocation and effectiveness and provides new analytical insights. Topics covered include the interface between aid allocation and perceptions of aid effectiveness, the year-on-year volatility of aid and evaluation of the country-level impacts...

This book provides an insight into some of the main issues that arise in post-conflict economic and social reconstruction, and offers examples of what works, and what does not. It will be of interest to all working on economic and social reconstruction in post-conflict countries, as well as...

A positive chapter has begun in finance for poor countries. Yet progress remains tentative. This book looks at how to make international finance better serve the needs of poor countries and poor people. It contains contributions by economists and political scientists who have been at the centre...

This book provides analytical insights into if and how the targets adopted by the international community are likely to be achieved. A key feature of the analysis is the recognition that most of the MDG targets are endogenously related. These inter-dependencies are crucial not only in analysing...

This paper looks at public sector debt in developing countries, being concerned specifically with the relationship between aid inflows and the public sector borrowing requirement net of aid loans. After examining the public sector budget constraint and various conditions under which aid might...

The last twenty years has seen an extensive and exhausting debate on how to improve the institutions of African states. But progress has been patchy at best. Many of the problems arise from a ‘partial-reform equilibrium’; initial reforms are undertaken, but then strong resistance is...

There is a widespread view that political criteria have received less emphasis in aid allocation since the end of the cold war, with a greater share of aid subsequently being based on developmental criteria. An observed increase in aid effectiveness is attributed to this shift. A reasonably...

This paper surveys recent research on aid and growth. It also provides an overview of research on inter-recipient aid allocation. The overall focus of the paper is on the relevance of these issues for poverty-efficient aid, defined as a pattern of inter-recipient aid allocation which maximises...