Was Development Assistance a Mistake?

Easterly, William

doi:10.1257/aer.97.2.328

Cited by 151 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…With respect to foreign aid, like us, Calderón and Chong (2006) find little evidence that foreign aid reduces income inequality for low income economies. Both Easterly (2007) and Deaton (2013) have pointed out why foreign aid can have negligible to perverse effects on both growth and income inequality. The aid which these authors consider is not aid in the form of emergency assistance, such as response to an earthquake, but long-term aid flows for development.…”

Section: Gini Fdi and Foreign Aidmentioning

confidence: 99%

Income Inequality, Trade and Financial Openness

Lim

McNelis

2014

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines the relationships between the Gini coefficient, trade-openness, foreign aid and foreign direct investment flows. Panel data estimates show that trade openness can be effective for changing income inequality, but its effectiveness depends on the stage of development. Simulation results show that the Gini and openness can be negatively or positively correlated -it depends on the capital intensity and on the degree of openness.Overall, the results suggest that trade and financial openness can be effective policies for reducing inequality in low income countries, if they significantly increase the marginal productivity of labour through capital intensive methods of production. JEL classification: E10, F41

show abstract

Section: Gini Fdi and Foreign Aidmentioning

confidence: 99%

Income Inequality, Trade and Financial Openness

Lim

McNelis

2014

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In fact, our findings suggest not exaggerating the magnitude of the impact of aid during the last decades, particularly in regard to its true capacity to improve the well‐being of households at national level. However, as recognized by Easterly (2007), despite the failures of aid, it could create opportunities for poor individuals by helping them to fill some particular needs in the areas of education, health and infrastructure. The debate on the issue of aid is far from over and will always be linked to development challenges.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aid and Poverty in Africa: Do Well‐being Measures Understate the Progress?

Batana

2010

African Development Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the last 15 years international aid donors to Africa have shifted their focus dramatically toward health and education; the share of social sector support in total aid rose from 33 per cent to 60 per cent from 1990–94 to 2000–2004 alone. If this aid has been effective, it is unlikely to be captured in GDP or income poverty figures. This paper uses the Demographic and Health Survey at multiple points in time to explore changes in well‐being in ten sub‐Saharan African countries. It compares the evolution of both assets and health which are considered as the two main dimensions of well‐being. These dimensions are simultaneously estimated using the structural equation models with latent variables that have been developed in the psychometric literature. The comparisons of well‐being across time in each country are based on the stochastic dominance analysis. The main results suggest that assets and health have improved during the last two decades in most of these countries. A decline in assets is observed for three countries while health deteriorates in two countries. The reduced poverty appears to be explained less by the aid than other factors in most cases.

show abstract

“…Easterly asks, then, 'Was development assistance a mistake?'. He argues that development assistance is based on three flawed assumptions -donors know what actions achieve economic growth; donor money and advice will make those actions happen; and donors know 'who' they (donors) are -assumptions which, with the benefit of hindsight, have proved to be mistaken (Easterly, 2007a). Development assistance has not achieved its stated objectives because donors and development experts do not actually know what causes economic growth.…”

Section: The 'Pessimists'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Easy to Declare, Difficult to Implement: The Disconnect Between the Aspirations of the Paris Declaration and Donor Practice in Nigeria

Monye¹,

Ansah²,

Orakwue³

2010

Development Policy Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The arguments in academia over the effectiveness of foreign aid fall into two broad categories: those grounded in political economy and those focused on donor conduct and aid effectiveness. There have been policy attempts within the donor community to reconcile them, including the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. This article examines the key features of foreign aid to Nigeria between 1999 and 2007. Using the Declaration as a framework, it looks for ways of making foreign aid in Nigeria more effective.

show abstract

Was Development Assistance a Mistake?

Cited by 151 publications

References 8 publications

Income Inequality, Trade and Financial Openness

Income Inequality, Trade and Financial Openness

Aid and Poverty in Africa: Do Well‐being Measures Understate the Progress?

Easy to Declare, Difficult to Implement: The Disconnect Between the Aspirations of the Paris Declaration and Donor Practice in Nigeria

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About