Since the mid-1990s, Ireland has been significantly increasing its bilateral and EU framework financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority. The majority of such aid falls under the direct state-to-state aid and emergency/humanitarian assistance programmes. This chapter first examines direct...

While most economists assume that aid is fungible, most aid donors behave as if it is not. Recipient government responses to development project aid are studied in the context of a specific World Bank-financed project. We estimate the impact of a rural road rehabilitation project in Vietnam on...

This paper discusses to what extent debt relief embedded in debt swaps linked to development can be helpful in reaching development goals such as the Millennium Development Goals. A range of historical and current international debt relief practices and proposals is assessed on the basis of...

The First Millennium Development Goal (MDG#1) is to cut the fraction of global population living on less than one dollar per day in half, by 2015. Foreign aid financed investments may contribute to the attainment of this goal. But how much can aid be reasonably expected to accomplish? A...

This paper assesses whether the scaling up of aid and the resulting increase in government spending that is needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would be hampered by wage bill ceilings that are often part of government programs supported by the IMF`s Poverty Reduction and...

Drawing on recent research, this study elaborates on the role of the IMF in support of its low-income members, pointing to the global character of the institution and to its superior ability - given its multilateral nature - to serve as a financial institution, an information provider, and a...

We examine the issue of technical assistance versus brain drain repatriation as alternative strategies for transferring scarce skills to a skill-poor economy. Technical assistance relies mainly on expatriate skills and labor from the host country, while brain drain repatriation seeks to effect a...

This paper examines a number of structural factors affecting the external debt sustainability of HIPC completion point countries. It shows that (i) while comparing favorably with other low-income countries, the policy and institutional frameworks of completion point countries in general are...

This article examines empirical evidence on the volatility and uncertainty of aid flows and their main policy implications. Aid is found to be more volatile than fiscal revenues - particularly in highly aid-dependent countries - and shortfalls in aid and domestic revenue tend to coincide. The...

Aid for Trade (AfT) has emerged as a significant mechanism for the development of lesser-developed countries by helping them participate in the global value chain. Grants in AfT have gradually increased since 2002 and have been invested in various sectors such as transport, storage,...