Publication

This paper discusses the allocation of aid and whether it is directed to where it is needed most. The authors find little evidence that the targeting of aid has improved significantly over time. They argue that most donors provide higher aid to relatively poor countries, but that the focus is still not on countries with particularly high incidence of absolute poverty. They hold that many donors fail to direct aid predominantly to where local conditions are conducive to a productive use of inflows. Moreover, they reject the proposition that multilateral donors institutions provide better targeted aid than bilateral donors.