Testing the foreign aid-led growth hypothesis in West Africa

Jones, Yakama Manty (2013): Testing the foreign aid-led growth hypothesis in West Africa. Published in: Birkbeck College , University of London,Working Papers in Management No. BWPMA 1303 (April 2013)

Abstract

This paper assesses the foreign aid-led growth hypothesis in a panel of West African countries using panel cointegration techniques ( Pendroni Residual Cointegration Test, Error Correction Model, Johansen Fisher Panel Cointegration Test) and then on a country-by-country basis using time series cointegration techniques (Engle-Granger test, Error Correction Model , Johansen system cointegration test). The panel cointegration results indicate a long run relationship between aid and growth in the whole panel. For the individual countries, at least one test showed evidence of this long run relationship. Granger causality tests were done for the whole panel and then for each country individually to establish direction of causality between foreign aid and economic growth. There is evidence of unidirectional causality from foreign aid to economic growth, from economic growth to foreign aid and there are cases where both variables are independent. A simplified variation of the Chenery and Strout Two-Gap Model was estimated to test the impact of foreign aid and selected explanatory variables on economic growth in countries where aid was found to granger cause growth and this impact varied from country to country.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Foreign Aid, Growth, Error Correction Model, Johansen Panel Cointegration Test, Engle-Granger test, Granger causality
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E6 - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O19 - International Linkages to Development ; Role of International Organizations

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