This paper surveys 50 years 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 didn’t,...

The main message of the Assessing Aid report of the World Bank (1998) is that aid is effective in stimulating economic growth, but only when the government policies of the recipient country are good. Donor countries have picked up this message and have used it to become more selective when...