Assessing Aid

Assessing Aid
Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 164
Release: 1998
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780195211238

Assessing Aid determines that the effectiveness of aid is not decided by the amount received but rather the institutional and policy environment into which it is accepted. It examines how development assistance can be more effective at reducing global poverty and gives five mainrecommendations for making aid more effective: targeting financial aid to poor countries with good policies and strong economic management; providing policy-based aid to demonstrated reformers; using simpler instruments to transfer resources to countries with sound management; focusing projects oncreating and transmitting knowledge and capacity; and rethinking the internal incentives of aid agencies.

Dead Aid

Dead Aid
Author: Dambisa Moyo
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2009-03-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0374139563

Debunking the current model of international aid promoted by both Hollywood celebrities and policy makers, Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing development of the world's poorest countries.

The Fiscal Impact of Foreign Aid in Rwanda: a Theoretical and Empirical Analysis.

The Fiscal Impact of Foreign Aid in Rwanda: a Theoretical and Empirical Analysis.
Author: Kene Ezemenari Ephraim Kebede and Sajal Lahiri
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 35
Release: 2008
Genre: Debt
ISBN:

Abstract: The inflow of large quantities of foreign aid into Rwanda since 1994 can have potential adverse effects such as aid dependency via a significant negative effect on tax efforts and on public investments. This paper carries out a theoretical and empirical study to examine these issues. The theoretical part develops a model in which the recipient government decides on the optimal level of tax and optimally allocates total government revenue between current expenditure and public investment. The theoretical model makes it possible to empirically test whether an increase in aid is likely to reduce the optimal tax rate and the proportion of public expenditure allocated to public investment. The econometric analysis uses time series data on Rwanda to show, in line with other studies in the literature, a negative relationship between increased aid and the tax rate; but the magnitude of the effects are extremely small. In the case of Rwanda, reforms to the tax administration and expansion of the tax base have had mitigating effects. As far as the effect on public investment, the overall effect was negative in the past; however, since 1995 the direction of this effect has changed.

What Does Aid Do to Fiscal Policy? New Evidence

What Does Aid Do to Fiscal Policy? New Evidence
Author: Jean-Louis Combes
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2016-06-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1484382692

Foreign aid is a sizable source of government financing for several developing countries and its allocation matters for the conduct of fiscal policy. This paper revisits fiscal effects of shifts in aid dependency in 59 developing countries from 1960 to 2010. It identifies structural shifts in aid dependency: upward shifts (structural increases in aid inflows) and downward shifts (structural decreases in aid inflows). These shifts are treated as shocks in aid dependency and treatment effect methods are used to assess the fiscal effects of aid. It finds that shifts in aid dependency are frequent and have significant fiscal effects. In addition to traditional evidence of tax displacement and “aid illusion,” we show that upward shifts and downward shifts in aid dependency have asymmetric effects on the fiscal accounts. Large aid inflows undermine tax capacity and public investment while large reductions in aid inflows tend to keep recipients’ tax and expenditure ratios unchanged. Moreover, the tax displacement effects tend to be temporary while the impact on expenditure items are persistent. Finally, we find that the undesirable fiscal effects of aid are more pronounced in countries with low governance scores and low absorptive capacity, as well as those with IMF-supported programs.

Dollar a Day Revisited

Dollar a Day Revisited
Author: Martin Ravallion
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 39
Release: 2008
Genre: Absolute poverty
ISBN:

The article presents the first major update of the international $1 a day poverty line, proposed in World Development Report 1990: Poverty for measuring absolute poverty by the standards of the world's poorest countries. In a new and more representative data set of national poverty lines, a marked economic gradient emerges only when consumption per person is above about $2.00 a day at 2005 purchasing power parity. Below this, the average poverty line is $1.25, which is proposed as the new international poverty line. The article tests the robustness of this line to alternative estimation methods and explains how it differs from the old $1 a day line.

Studies on Economic Development and Growth in Selected African Countries

Studies on Economic Development and Growth in Selected African Countries
Author: Almas Heshmati
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2017-05-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9811044511

This book is a collection of studies on economic development and growth in selected African countries. It consists of an introduction/summary and 15 inter-related empirical studies grouped into 5 research areas: women’s empowerment and demand for healthcare; the impact of institutions, aid, inflation and FDI on economic growth; capital structure and bank-loan growth effects; trade, mineral exports and exchange rate; and growth, productivity and efficiency in various industries. While it provides a comprehensive picture of the state of economic development and growth in most parts of the continent, the main focus is on economic development and growth in Ethiopia and Rwanda – two countries undergoing rapid economic and social development.

Foreign Aid and Development

Foreign Aid and Development
Author: Finn Tarp
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 415
Release: 2000-08-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134608489

Aid has worked in the past but can be made to work better in the future. This book offers important new research and will appeal to those working in economics, politics and development studies as well as to governmental and aid professionals.

Leave No One Behind

Leave No One Behind
Author: Homi Kharas
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2019-10-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 081573784X

The ambitious 15-year agenda known as the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in 2015 by all members of the United Nations, contains a pledge that “no one will be left behind.” This book aims to translate that bold global commitment into an action-oriented mindset, focused on supporting specific people in specific places who are facing specific problems. In this volume, experts from Japan, the United States, Canada, and other countries address a range of challenges faced by people across the globe, including women and girls, smallholder farmers, migrants, and those living in extreme poverty. These are many of the people whose lives are at the heart of the aspirations embedded in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. They are the people most in need of such essentials as health care, quality education, decent work, affordable energy, and a clean environment. This book is the result of a collaboration between the Japan International Cooperation Research Institute and the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings. It offers practical ideas for transforming “leave no one behind” from a slogan into effective actions which, if implemented, will make it possible to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. In addition to policymakers in the field of sustainable development, this book will be of interest to academics, activists, and leaders of international organizations and civil society groups who work every day to promote inclusive economic and social progress.