The debate surrounding foreign aid effectiveness is often framed around whether or not aid works, but that, according to a new working paper on the issue released this week, may just be the tip of the iceberg.
Nancy Qian, associate professor of economics at Yale University and author of the paper, which will be published in the Annual Review of Economics next year, suggests that the often polarizing discussion on aid effectiveness could very well benefit from asking slightly different questions.
Qian starts out by laying out some figures on foreign aid. Donors from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee have spent up to $3.5 trillion on development assistance from 1960 — the first year that data was reported annually — to 2013.
About the author
Anna Patricia Valerio
Anna Patricia Valerio is a former Manila-based development analyst who focused on writing innovative, in-the-know content for senior executives in the international development community. Before joining Devex, Patricia wrote and edited business, technology and health stories for BusinessWorld, a Manila-based business newspaper.
