In June 2013, the High-Level Conference of Middle-Income Countries held in Costa Rica, organised by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), ventured an intriguing look into the future of development. In particular, the conference highlighted the role of networks in...

This paper examines the issue of international development partnerships among NGOs in the context of a principle-agent framework. Specifically, we characterize the ability of shared religious values in development partnerships to mitigate agency problems. These advantages are weighed against...

At their arrival in North America, travelers from the Old Continent were exposed to a radically different civilization. Among the many practices that captured their imagination was scalp-taking. During battle, the Native American warrior would often stop after having killed or subdued the enemy...

The purpose of this paper is not to fully analyze the various programs or arguments that have been given over the years to justify or attack foreign aid, but rather to examine the practice of foreign aid through the lens of economic analysis and constitutional analysis, which has not really been...

Aid beneficiaries know very little about development interventions in their own communities. This lack of transparency and information is likely to reduce beneficiaries' ability and willingness to become active in local development. It may also dampen intended aid effects on beneficiaries'...

We argue that perception, priming, and cognition research utilize the tools of stage magic in problematic ways, engaging in what we call "surprise-hacking." Surprise-hacking consists of the pre-experimental planning and staging of counterintuitive and negative results (such as blindness, bias,...

The international policy discourse, for example by the World Trade Organization and the United Nations, has emphasized the critical role of productive capacities in promoting sustainable development and building economic resilience in developing countries. This paper has examined whether...

The literature on aid effectiveness has focused more on recipient policies than the determinants of aid allocation yet a consistent result is that political allies obtain more aid from donors than non-allies. This paper shows that aid allocated to political allies is ineffective for growth,...

Using longitudinal survey data from western Kenya, this paper estimates the economic impacts of antiretroviral treatment. The responses in two important outcomes are studied: (1) labor supply of adult AIDS patients receiving treatment; and (2) labor supply of patients’ household members. We...

This paper examines whether the federal structure of aid-receiving countries matters in explaining aid effectiveness. Following the decentralization theorem, the devolution of powers should increase aid effectiveness, since local decision-makers are better informed about local needs. At the same...