This paper reviews the effectiveness and efficiency of key policy instruments for MDG (Millennium Development Goals) achievement. We first demonstrate that average MDG progress is likely to be too slow to meet the education and health sector targets in a number of developing countries. We also...

Reaching the objective of universal access to modern energy services will require large investments in infrastructure in developing countries. An important part of funding will be provided in the form of development finance and its effectiveness in producing positive impacts is crucial for this...

Performance-based aid has been proposed as an alternative to the failed traditional approach whereby donors make aid conditional on the reform promises of recipient countries. However, hardly any empirical evidence exists on whether ex post rewards are effective in inducing reforms. We attempt...

It is widely believed that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has grossly fallen short of high expectations raised by the Bush administration in 2002. From the perspective of potential recipient countries, the crucial issue is whether the MCC increased the overall pool of aid resources...

The Paris declaration of 2005 on aid effectiveness is now part of the international consensus. It holds that increased use of budget support combined with decentralised aid administration will lead to transaction costs reductions (through better donor harmonisation of aid) and to enhanced local...