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Aid and Economic Growth: A Robust Approach

Author

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  • Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong
  • Jeffrey S. Racine
Abstract
This paper uses panel data and the Local Linear Kernel Estimator (LLKE) to investigate the effects of aid on economic growth in developing countries. Specifically, we investigate the robustness of a popular parametric specification of the aid/economic growth relationship in Less Developed countries (LDCs). First, we find that aid has a significant impact on economic growth given the support of the sample data we use. However, the effect depends on how aid is measured. We find a positive growth e ect when aid is measured as aidgni but no signi cant growth effect when aid is measured as aidpercap. Second, we find some evidence of increasing returns to aidgni. Finally, we find that a "good" policy environment increases the effectiveness of aid in LDCs, all things equal. The impact of the policy environment on growth varies according to how the policy environment is measured. Our results generally support the popular quadratic parametric specification of the aid/growth relationship. Our results have implications for aid policy and for research on the effectiveness of aid.

Suggested Citation

  • Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong & Jeffrey S. Racine, 2014. "Aid and Economic Growth: A Robust Approach," Department of Economics Working Papers 2014-03, McMaster University.
    • Handle: RePEc:mcm:deptwp:2014-03
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2017. "Foreign Aid and Inclusive Development: Updated Evidence from Africa, 2005–2012," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 98(1), pages 282-298, March.
    2. Simplice A. ASONGU & Jacinta NWACHUKWU & Nicholas BIEKPE, 2019. "Foreign Aid, Terrorism And Growth: Conditional Evidence From Quantile Regression," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 90(3), pages 457-486, September.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2018. "Increasing Foreign Aid for Inclusive Human Development in Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(2), pages 443-466, July.
    4. Guerino Ardizzi & Federico Crudu & Carmelo Petraglia, 2019. "Innovation and Cost Efficiency in the Banking Industry: The Role of Electronic Payments," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 48(1), February.
    5. Asongu, Simplice A & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2015. "Foreign aid instability and bundled governance dynamics in Africa," MPRA Paper 71783, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Asongu, Simplice A & Odhiambo, Nicholas Mbaya, 2019. "Foreign aid complementarities and inclusive human development in Africa," Working Papers 25397, University of South Africa, Department of Economics.
    7. Robert Stojanov & Daniel Němec & Libor Žídek, 2019. "Evaluation of the Long-Term Stability and Impact of Remittances and Development Aid on Sustainable Economic Growth in Developing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, March.
    8. Asongu, Simplice, 2014. "A brief clarification to the questionable economics of foreign aid for inclusive human development," MPRA Paper 64458, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2015. "Foreign aid volatility and lifelong learning: demand-side empirics to a textual literature," Research Africa Network Working Papers 15/016, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    10. John Ssozi & Simplice Asongu & Voxi Heinrich Amavilah, 2019. "The effectiveness of development aid for agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(2), pages 284-305, March.
    11. Asongu, Simplice & Nnanna, Joseph, 2019. "Foreign aid, instability and governance in Africa," MPRA Paper 101087, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Simplice Asongu & Uchenna EFOBI & Ibukun BEECROFT, 2015. "FDI, Aid, Terrorism: Conditional Threshold Evidence from Developing Countries," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/019, African Governance and Development Institute..
    13. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo-Obasi, 2020. "Foreign aid volatility and lifelong learning," International Journal of Education Economics and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(4), pages 370-406.
    14. Simplice Asongu & Oasis Kodila-Tedika, 2017. "Trade, aid and terror," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(1), pages 2-24, April.
    15. Jinyang Cai & Zuting Zheng & Ruifa Hu & Carl E. Pray & Qianqian Shao, 2018. "Has International Aid Promoted Economic Growth in Africa?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 30(3), pages 239-251, September.
    16. Simplice Asongu & Mohamed Jellal, 2016. "Foreign Aid Fiscal Policy: Theory and Evidence," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 58(2), pages 279-314, June.
    17. Simplice A. Asongu Ph.D & Joseph Nnanna, . "Foreign Aid And Sustainable Inclusive Human Development In Africa," Journal of Economic and Sustainable Growth 2, Office Of The Chief Economist, Development Bank of Nigeria.
    18. Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2019. "Foreign Aid, Education and Lifelong Learning in Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 126-146, March.
    19. Boateng, Elliot & Agbola, Frank W. & Mahmood, Amir, 2021. "Foreign aid volatility and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does institutional quality matter?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 111-127.
    20. Jing Shao & Maojun Wang, 2022. "Revisiting economic effectiveness of foreign aid: The case of Japanese aid to China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(7), pages 2284-2304, July.
    21. G. Ardizzi & F. Crudu & C. Petraglia, 2015. "The Impact of Electronic Payments on Bank Cost Efficiency: Nonparametric Evidence," Working Paper CRENoS 201517, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    22. Hervé Nenghem Takam & Roger Tsafack Nanfosso, 2024. "Importance of official development assistance in improving the economic cycles of Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa countries," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 4(7), pages 1-22, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    aid; economic growth; investment; developing countries; robustness test; non-parametric regression; policy impacts;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
    • O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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