We examine the cyclical properties of development aid using bilateral data for 22 donors and over 100 recipients during 1970-2005. We find that bilateral aid flows are on average procyclical with respect to business cycles in donor and recipient countries. However, they become countercyclical...

This paper documents that developing countries with opaque institutions receive procyclical development aid and procyclical promises of future aid while developing countries with transparent institutions receive countercyclical aid. It provides a dynamic equilibrium model of optimal aid policy...