This paper explores empirical aspects of the relation between supervision and project performance. I focus on development projects funded by the World Bank and on supervision done by the World Bank. The World Bank is the preeminent international development organization both in terms of money...

This paper explores how U.S. bilateral economic aid has or has not changed with the advent of the War on Terror. In particular, has the renewed geopolitical role of aid coincided with a reduction of aid to the poorest countries or less weight on need in U.S. aid allocation decisions? We start...

This paper assesses the impact of World Bank project preparation on project outcomes. Using a stochastic frontier model, I generate a measure of World Bank project preparation duration based on variation in political economy factors that are otherwise exogenous to project outcomes. Panel...

This paper uses monthly World Bank project-level data to assess the impact of upcoming elections in recipient countries on loan activity. We analyze the extent to which geopolitics influence both the timing and size of loan commitments and disbursements. While developing countries have better...

Wright (2008) investigates how the impact of foreign aid on GDP growth in dictatorships depends on the dictator’s time horizon, i.e., how much longer the dictator expects to be in office. The empirical analysis finds a strong positive impact of aid on growth for dictators with long time...