Growth, Debt Burdens and Alleviating Effects of Foreign Aid in Least Developed Countries

Christina Bjerg, Christian Bjornskov () and Anne Holm
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Christina Bjerg: Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business, Postal: The Aarhus School of Business, Prismet, Silkeborgvej 2, DK 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Anne Holm: Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business, Postal: The Aarhus School of Business, Prismet, Silkeborgvej 2, DK 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

No 07-1, Working Papers from University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics

Abstract: In this paper, we explore the potential growth effects of foreign aid when in conjunction with severe debt problems. We first argue that aid, when used to finance debt repayments, does not lead to Dutch Disease while still alleviating an economic problem. A set of empirical estimates show that while inflows of foreign aid in general are not associated with growth in a sample of 38 Least Developed Countries, an interaction term with the level of external debt is significant. We take this as suggestive evidence of an alleviating effect of aid in these countries and offer some tentative thoughts on the implications for future aid policies

Keywords: Economic growth; foreign aid; external debt (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F34 F35 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev and nep-lam
Date: Written 2007-01-01
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