We employ matching methods to explore the relationships between foreign aid flows and corruption in recipient countries. Data are drawn from recipients of foreign aid for the 1996–2013 period. We find no compelling evidence of an effect running from corruption to aid flows. Furthermore, point estimates imply that corruption reforms lead countries to receive less aid. Alternatively, we generally find that, over a 10-year horizon, a sustained increase in aid leads to more corruption in a recipient. It is the sustained nature of an aid increase that seems to be important for this effect. (We generally do not report significant results for large changes in aid that are not sustained over time.)

我们采用匹配方法来探索外援流动与受援国腐败之间的关系。数据来自 1996-2013 年期间的外援受援国。我们发现没有令人信服的证据表明从腐败到援助流动的影响。此外，点估计意味着腐败改革导致各国获得的援助减少。或者，我们通常发现，在 10 年的时间里，援助的持续增加会导致受援国出现更多的腐败。援助增加的持续性似乎对这种效果很重要。（我们通常不会报告不随时间推移而持续的重大援助变化的显着结果。）