Recently, Sachs et al. (2004) have argued in favor of a massive increase in foreign aid to Africa in order to escape from a poverty trap. They propose to increase the capital stock in one step, through a large, well-targeted infusion of foreign assistance. In this article we show that foreign...

Part I Inside the Donor World -- 1. Background: A Sketch of the Development Industry -- 2. The Imperative to Spend -- 3. Product Development -- 4. Control, Compliance, and More Control -- 5. Procurement -- 6. Numbers, Indicators, and Technical Objectivity -- 7. Chronic Ills of the Industry -- 8....

The three main financial inflows to developing countries have largely increased during the last two decades, despite the large debate in the literature regarding their effects on economic growth which is not yet clear-cut. An emerging literature investigates the dependence of their effects on...