Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Since
World
War
II
“developed”
countries
have
been
disbursing
aid
flows
to
poor
countries
in
an
effort
to
spur
development.
Five
decades
after,
billions
have
been
transferred
from
rich
to
poor
countries,
but
the
development
gulf
between
“developed”
and
“developing”
countries
has
been
rising;
namely,
as
some
developing
countries
are
able
to
break
into
global
markets
and
grow
rapidly
to
a
convergence
path,
others
are
falling
behind.
Particularly
in
Africa,
which
is
the
largest
aid-‐recipient,
the
scenario
so
far
has
been,
to
a
vast
majority,
one
of
misery,
poverty,
disease
and
low
growth.
Is
aid
actually
working
in
terms
of
promoting
development?
What
factors
can
explain
its
poor
economic
performance?
For
the
purpose
of
this
dissertation,
we
review
the
main
trends
in
development
theory
and
policy
and
the
main
criticisms
to
current
foreign
aid’s
apparent
failure
to
alleviate
poverty
and
promote
recipients’
growth.
We
give
a
special
focus
to
the
implications
of
the
multiplicity
of
donors
and
contribute
to
literature
by
supporting
our
arguments
statistically.
Building
on
Easterly
and
Levine’s
(1995)
work
and
their
dataset,
we
reassess
their
cross-‐country
regressions
and
include
two
non-‐traditional
variables:
aid
flows
as
a
percentage
of
recipients’
GNI,
and
the
number
of
donors
active
in
that
disbursement.
Data
is
averaged
per
decade
over
the
period
1960-‐1989.
We
find
no
significant
association
between
aid
alone
and
growth
of
income
per
capita,
but
find
that,
when
the
number
of
donors
is
accounted
for,
aid
has
a
positive
marginal
effect
on
growth
–
with
diminishing
marginal
returns
on
the
number
of
donors
over
which
it
is
distributed.
We
test
for
endogeneity
and
conclude
for
the
validity
of
our
regressors
and
results.
All
the
formerly
included
regressors
remain
significant;
the
Africa
dummy,
however,
looses
its
significance
when
aid
and
donors
are
accounted
for.
As
Africa
has
been
receiving
the
largest
(and
an
increasing)
share
of
aid
as
percentage
of
its
GNI
over
time,
and
distributed
over
a
larger
number
of
donors,
this
diminishing
marginal
returns
effect
will
be
more
pronounced
in
Africa.
Hence,
we
contribute
significantly
to
the
“unexplained”
poor
growth
performance
of
Africa
relative
to
other
regions
over
this
period.