Foreign aid has been an area of active scholarly investigation since the end of the Second World War, but particularly since the early 1950s when a large number of the erstwhile colonies became independent. Few areas of public policy involving the developed and developing countries have aroused more passion and ideological debate than foreign aid. In spite of the massive amount of research in the field, there is still not enough work in two areas: the first involves the mechanisms through which aid influences the economies of the donor and the recipient countries; and the second, country-specific assessments of the effectiveness of foreign aid. Foreign Aid: New Perspectives is aimed at making a contribution in these two areas. The contents of this volume are divided into four parts. Part I deals with some theoretical aspects of foreign aid, while the second part analyzes some general policy aspects. Part III turns to the donor experience and includes one paper on the Danish experience. The last part considers the recipient experience and consists of five case studies.

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.

The success or failure of economic assistance programs is a shared responsibility of recipient countries and donors. The negative attitude about aid prevalent today underscores a perception the aid has failed. Critics often blame corrupt regimes, weak governments, or poor economic policies. However, the poor track record of aid is also due to donors' inability to allocate limited funds effectively and poor coordination of their aid efforts. Declining aid budgets have led to fundamental questioning of foreign aid's allocation and utility, while the apparent ineffectiveness of aid has shrunk aid budgets and turned public opinion against providing it. This edited collection containing pieces written by leading development specialists evaluates these emerging questions of allocation and efficiency. Development economists, policy makers, and development specialists will benefit from reading this work. Chapters examine the optimal and intertemporal allocation of aid, the role and accountability of NGOs in allocation, the importance of untying (a new perspective on low levels of aid), and links between the allocation pattern of donors. Additional chapters deal with the impact of aid on economic growth, democracy, wage inequality between skilled and unskilled labor, and the role of governance and institutional capacity in aid effectiveness. An effective balance between theoretical and empirical models is offered to better illustrate the issues involved.

This book examines Turkey’s success within international development cooperation and how this could create a framework for a new international aid architecture. Turkey has become a world leader in humanitarian assistance and shared an extraordinary burden in official development assistance (ODA). Its achievements are used to highlight the global failure to meet aid commitments and the increasingly permanent humanitarian problems seen in certain regions. A particular focus is given to Turkey’s diplomatic and humanitarian actions, its contribution to regional stability and development, and creating a holistic aid perspective. The book aims to provide the reader with an understanding of Turkey’s significant value-added contribution to the international aid architecture, gives an outline for international cooperation, and contributes to ongoing discussions within development economics, political science, and international relations.

Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including: - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West? - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority? - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions? Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.

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.

Explores the different choices made by donor governments when delivering foreign aid projects around the world.

As China moved from a planned to a market economy many people expected that China’s political system would similarly move from authoritarianism to democracy. It is now clear, however, that political liberalisation does not necessarily follow economic liberalisation. This book explores this apparent contradiction, presenting many new perspectives and new thinking on the subject. It considers the path of transition in China historically, makes comparisons with other countries and examines how political culture and the political outlook in China are developing at present. A key feature of the book is the fact that most of the contributors are China-born, Western-trained scholars, who bring deep knowledge and well informed views to the study.

Provided for over 60 years, and expanding more rapidly today than it has for a generation, foreign aid is now a $100bn business. But does it work? Indeed, is it needed at all? In this first-ever, overall assessment of aid, Roger Riddell provides a rigorous but highly readable account of aid, warts and all.