The downside of aid?

This quantitative study focuses on the effect of foreign aid on the level of corruption in developing countries. Several control variables are included to test whether a possible relationship between aid and corruption is not actually influenced by one of these variables. The results of the analysis show that there is a significant relation between aid and corruption, but this does not hold after the inclusion of the control variables. However, the negative correlation between aid and corruption does mean that in countries that receive more aid, the level of corruption is lower. This is not necessarily a causal relationship, but the association does illustrate that aid goes to countries that are less corrupt. According to this study the main predictors of corruption are: a low level of economic development, limited free press, a low level of political stability, no British legal origin and a high percentage of Protestants in a country.