Growth and employment

Aid can help countries generate more growth and employment, but what are the channels that work best for growth? How can aid help improve the livelihoods of the poorest people, improve the opportunities for women in the labour market, and provide more emp

In this part of the ReCom–Research and Communication on Foreign Aid project we look at what aid can do to create more economic growth and employment . The key questions include; What are the effects of aid on growth? Through which channels does aid act best as a catalyzer for growth? How can aid help improve the livelihoods of the poorest people, improve the opportunities for women in the labour market, and provide more employment for young people?

 

 

This is part of the 'ReCom – research and communication on foreign aid' project.

 

TEAM

Focal point: Finn Tarp

Assistant: Janis Vehmaan-Kreula

Communications: Annett Victorero

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    Professor Tarp has four decades of experience in academic and applied development economics research and teaching. His field experience covers more than two decades of in-country work in 35 countries across Africa and the developing world more...

    Journal Article
    What Is the Aggregate Economic Rate of Return to Foreign Aid?

    In recent years, academic studies have been converging towards the view that foreign aid promotes aggregate economic growth. We employ a simulation approach to: (i) validate the coherence of empirical aid-growth studies published since 2008; and (ii)...

    Video
    UNU-WIDER Interview Series: Professor Lant Pritchett

    An interview with Professor Lant Pritchett from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, conducted during his visit to Helsinki to deliver a presentation titled 'It’s a Deals World: The Dynamics of Capitalism with Weak Institutions' at a...

    Video
    UNU-WIDER Interview Series: Nicolas van de Walle

    The intricate dynamic between foreign aid to Africa, democratic transitions and consolidation is the topic of a series of research papers being published under the ReCom Governance & Fragility theme this spring. In this interview we speak to Nicolas...

    Video
    ReCom results meeting: Jobs – Aid at work

    The ReCom results meeting under the theme ‘Growth & Employment’ titled 'Jobs – Aid at Work' was held 8 October in Copenhagen, Denmark. Speakers included policy makers, practitioners and academics. More about the event here. What is ReCom? An...

    Video
    Research communication: Why doesn’t research turn into policy?

    At the recent UNU-WIDER research conference on development and climate change, the communications team took the opportunity to ask participants visiting us here in Helsinki for their views on how research turns into policy. We heard many interesting...

    Video
    Aid creates growth and jobs

    What can foreign do for economic growth and jobs? An important role of aid is to help poor countries mobilize their resources for producing goods and services, thus supporting growth.

    Video
    New landscape of poverty

    The global landscape of poverty has been changing quite dramatically during recent years.

    Policy workshop
    Development finance - a role for foreign assistance

    Has foreign aid boosted economic growth on average in developing countries? How and why is the aid landscape changing? What are the key strategic choices ahead for the development community? ​These and many other questions were discussed in a policy...

    Mon, 8 June 2015
    Danish Embassy, Mchafukoge, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
    Past event
    Working Paper
    The Return to Foreign Aid

    We investigate the marginal productivity of investment across countries. The aim is to estimate the return on investments financed by foreign aid and by domestic resource mobilization, using aggregate data. Both returns are expected to vary across...

    Journal Special Issue
    Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    This is an introduction to the UNU-WIDER special issue of World Development on aid policy and the macroeconomic management of aid. We provide an overview of the 10 studies, grouping them under three sub-themes: the aid–growth relationship; the supply...

    Journal Article
    Fiscal Composition and Aid Effectiveness

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Journal Article
    Aid Supplies Over Time

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Journal Article
    Aid and Government Fiscal Behavior

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Journal Article
    Aid and Income

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Journal Article
    The Hard Challenge of Aid Coordination

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Journal Article
    Assessing Foreign Aid’s Long-Run Contribution to Growth and Development

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Journal Article
    International Coordination and the Effectiveness of Aid

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Journal Article
    Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Journal Article
    Consequences of Aid Volatility for Macroeconomic Management and Aid Effectiveness

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Journal Article
    Policy Responses to Aid Surges in Countries with Limited International Capital Mobility

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Journal Article
    Business Cycle Fluctuations, Large Macroeconomic Shocks, and Development Aid

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Policy and the Macroeconomic Management of Aid

    Working Paper
    On the Dynamics of Multidimensional Chronic Poverty

    Understanding chronic poverty and its evolution is complex given the amount of information involved. This paper proposes a new approach to analysing the evolution of chronic poverty in a multivariate setting using a Shapley decomposition of a...

    Research Brief
    Structural Change – Critical for Poverty Reduction in Africa

    Economic growth has had a negative effect on unemployment and poverty reduction in Africa. The transition from low- to middle income requires within sector increases in productivity and a shift of labour resources from low productivity agriculture to...

    Blog
    Aid, Growth, and Other Issues – An Interview with Finn Tarp
    Placeholder

    11 September 2014 by Roger Williamson In this interview Finn Tarp, Director of UNU-WIDER, discusses the evidence uncovered in the aid and growth and...

    Position Paper
    Aid, Growth and Employment

    This position paper on Aid, Growth, and Employment was prepared by UNU-WIDER under the ReCom programme of Research (Re) and Communication (Com) on foreign aid. It aims to provide a coherent up-to-date overview and guide to a complex issue in the...

    Working Paper
    What is the Aggregate Economic Rate of Return to Foreign Aid?

    Does foreign aid promote aggregate economic growth? In contrast to widespread perceptions, academic studies of this question have been rapidly converging towards a positive answer. We employ a simulation approach to (i) validate the coherence of...

    Working Paper
    Understanding Chinese and Western Development Finance in Uganda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe

    China’s importance as a major donor outside the traditional Western donors has been increasing and this has helped to bridge the funding gaps in developing countries. At the same time, South-South financial assistance still comes with less...

    Journal Article
    The Long-Run Impact of Foreign Aid in 36 African Countries

    The authors comprehensively analyse the long-run effect of foreign aid (ODA) on key macroeconomic variables in 36 sub-Saharan African countries from the mid-1960s to 2007, using a well-specified co-integrated VAR model as statistical benchmark...

    Blog
    On Aid and Growth – An Interview with Sam Jones
    Placeholder

    28 February 2014 In this interview Sam Jones summarizes the findings of original UNU-WIDER work on the impact of aid on growth. Using data covering...

    Working Paper
    Aid, Employment, and Poverty Reduction in Africa

    Growth and poverty reduction in Africa are weakly linked. This paper argues that the reason is that Africa has failed to create enough good jobs. Structural transformation―the relative growth of employment in high productivity sectors―has not...

    Working Paper
    Transfers for Extreme Poverty Reduction

    This paper investigates how a development intervention which targets extremely poor households with investment capital influences relationships between those households and the landowning elite. It places this investigation in the context of the...

    Displaying 32 of 133 results

    Context

    Main subject

    This project is part of ReCom - research and communication on foreign aid

    Theme: Past, 2010-11

    Keywords