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Aid and growth: evidence from firm-level data

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  • Chauvet, Lisa
  • Ehrhart, Hélène

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of foreign aid on firm growth for a panel of 4355 firms in 29 developing countries, 11 of which are in Africa. Using the World Bank Enterprise Surveys data and controlling for firm fixed effects, we find a positive impact of foreign aid on firms' sales growth. This result is robust to several checks, notably to the instrumentation of aid and to estimations on various sub-samples and on an extended cross-section sample of 93 countries. We then provide evidence that the positive effect of aid is especially strong for firms operating in sectors that are intensive in infrastructure and external finance, suggesting that aid may improve firm performance through the alleviation of infrastructure and financing constraints in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Chauvet, Lisa & Ehrhart, Hélène, 2018. "Aid and growth: evidence from firm-level data," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 461-477.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:135:y:2018:i:c:p:461-477
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.07.010
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign aid; Firm growth; Infrastructure constraint; Financing constraint;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O50 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - General

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