Journal article icon

Journal article

Elite capture of foreign aid: evidence from offshore bank accounts

Abstract:
Do elites capture foreign aid? This paper documents that aid disbursements to highly aid-dependent countries coincide with sharp increases in bank deposits in offshore financial centers known for bank secrecy and private wealth management but not in other financial centers. The estimates are not confounded by contemporaneous shocks—such as civil conflicts, natural disasters, and financial crises—and are robust to instrumenting using predetermined aid commitments. The implied leakage rate is around 7.5% at the sample mean and tends to increase with the ratio of aid to GDP. The findings are consistent with aid capture in the most aid-dependent countries.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

Actions


Access Document


Files:
Publisher copy:
10.1086/717455

Authors


More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
SSD
Department:
Saïd Business School
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-7850-2794


Publisher:
University of Chicago Press
Journal:
Journal of Political Economy More from this journal
Volume:
130
Issue:
2
Pages:
388-425
Publication date:
2022-01-05
DOI:
EISSN:
1537-534X
ISSN:
0022-3808


Language:
English
Pubs id:
1931649
Local pid:
pubs:1931649
Deposit date:
2024-09-04

Terms of use



Views and Downloads






If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record

TO TOP