Private financial flows such as foreign direct investment seem toencourage economic growth and relieve poverty in part because theycreate excellent incentives for transferring know-how and in partbecause they are subject to a stern market test that ensures they areallocated and monitored...

Many studies have found that countries with abundant natural resources grow more slowly than those without a phenomenon often known as the resource curse or the curse of oil. Some development specialists are concerned that foreign aid may also cause a resource curse. Recent research is not...

Private financial flows to developing countries, such as debt,equity, remittances, and private charitable giving, have increaseddramatically over the past 20 years. One commentator has eventrumpeted the privatization of foreign aid. Since privatecharitable giving remains small and developing...

More than ever, governments in developing countries have access to capital markets, but most are not using it. Instead, they have restructured their debt portfolios, cutting the share of private sector debt and increasing the share of longer-term multilateral debt. While some argue that this...

This note considers the future of aid from the perspective of the 2005-2030 time frame. It offers a possible scenario for the future, with booming private remittances and nongovernmental aid flows put to innovative uses, eclipsing a less agile, more politically driven official aid industry. A...

Some people think the best way to give aid is through grants. Others advocate aid embedded in subsidized loans. Mostly, incentive effects on donors and recipients are ignored in this debate. But grants and loans carry different incentives and in some settings can be complementary. Donors should...

It would be hard to disagree with the objectives of the international aid industry. But how much are donors contributing to their achievement? Despite recent progress, we still know surprisingly little. We know that some donors give much more than others relative to income. We also know that...

This Note reviews trends in official development assistance, focusing on volumes, sources, forms, and recipients. Several patterns emerge. First, a long-term trend of official flows taking the form of hard loans rather than grants and soft loans, with low interest and long maturities, has been...