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Government Policy and the Effectiveness of Foreign Aid

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  • Robert G. Murphy

    (Boston College)

  • Nicholas G. Tresp

    (UBS Investment Bank)

Abstract

This paper reconsiders the role of economic policy in determining the effectiveness of foreign aid for generating economic growth in developing countries. We update and modify the data set originally used by Burnside and Dollar (2000) in order to more fully consider the critique presented by Easterly et al. (2004). Our findings suggest that the relationship among foreign aid, government policy, and economic growth is tenuous and depends importantly on the subset of countries included in the analysis. Good policy enhances the effectiveness of foreign aid in spurring growth when we use the original set of countries included in Burnside and Dollar, but this relationship disappears for an expanded set of countries. Because the relationship among aid, policy, and growth is likely to be nonlinear, we present an alternative probit model emphasizing growth thresholds. Our results from this alternative analysis confirm the conclusions of Easterly et al., finding little support for the view that good policy increases the probability that foreign aid contributes to growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert G. Murphy & Nicholas G. Tresp, 2006. "Government Policy and the Effectiveness of Foreign Aid," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 647, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 29 Aug 2006.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:647
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    1. Henrik Hansen & Finn Tarp, 2000. "Aid effectiveness disputed," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(3), pages 375-398, April.
    2. Griffin, Keith, 1973. "The Effect of Aid and Other Resource Transfers on Savings and Growth in Less-Developed Countries: A Comment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 83(331), pages 863-866, September.
    3. Levy, Victor, 1987. "Does Concessionary Aid Lead to Higher Investment Rates in Low-Income Countries?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(1), pages 152-156, February.
    4. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-1250.
    5. P. Guillaumont & L. Chauvet, 2001. "Aid and Performance: A Reassessment," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6), pages 66-92.
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    13. William Easterly & Ross Levine & David Roodman, 2004. "Aid, Policies, and Growth: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 774-780, June.
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    15. Newlyn, Walter T, 1973. "The Effect of Aid and Other Resource Transfers on Savings and Growth in Less-Developed Countries: A Comment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 83(331), pages 867-869, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Unbreen Qayyum, 2013. "Institutional Quality, Conflict and Aid Dependency," PIDE-Working Papers 2013:94, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    2. Ismail O. FASANYA & Adegbemi B.O ONAKOYA, 2012. "Does Foreign Aid Accelerate Economic Growth? An Empirical Analysis for Nigeria," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 2(4), pages 423-431.
    3. Tiwari Aviral Kumar, 2011. "Foreign Aid, FDI, Economic Freedom and Economic Growth in Asian Countries," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 11(3), pages 1-28, September.
    4. Wako, Hassen, 2016. "Aid, institutions and economic growth: Heterogeneous parameters and heterogeneous donors," MERIT Working Papers 2016-009, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    5. Candel-Sánchez Francisco, 2014. "Incentives for Conditional Aid Effectiveness," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 75-102, June.
    6. Afees Adebare SALISU* & Fidelis O.OGWUMIKE**, 2010. "Aid-Macroeconomic Policy Environment and Growth:Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa," Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, Applied Economics Research Centre, vol. 20, pages 1-12.
    7. Bah, El-hadj M. & Ward, Jeremy, 2011. "Effectiveness of foreign aid in Small Island Developing States," MPRA Paper 32062, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Wako, Hassen, 2011. "Effectiveness of foreign aid in sub-Saharan Africa: Does disaggregating aid into bilateral and multilateral components make a difference?," MPRA Paper 72617, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    foreign aid; economic development; economic growth; government policy; development assistance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O23 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Development
    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies

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