Udviklingsbistanden i perspektiv[Foreign Aid in Perspective]

Foreign aid has evolved considerably over the last five decades in response to a dramatically changing global political and economic context. This paper takes a retrospective look at this process and discusses whether aid has been effective in furthering economic growth and development. The implications for the donor community of the decreasing relative importance of aid are assessed, and five examples of how aid policy can be improved in the future are put forward. I argue, in particular, that much greater care should be exercised when applying macro performance evaluation to development assistance. This approach increases the risk of aid becoming politicized and allocated inefficiently. Instead, a concerted effort should be made to draw much more on microeconomic insights and understanding in aid design and implementation.