Does foreign aid really work?

Foreign aid is now a $100bn business and is expanding more rapidly today than it has for a generation. But does it work? Indeed, is it needed at all?

Does Foreign Aid Really Work? sets out the evidence and exposes the instances where aid has failed and explains why. The book also examines the way that short-term political interests distort aid, and disentangles the moral and ethical assumptions that lie behind the belief that aid does good. The book concludes by detailing the practical ways that aid needs to change if it is to be the effective force for good that its providers claim it is.

At this ODI and Oxford University Press event, Roger Riddell presented his findings and Sir Michael Aaronson, former Director of the Save the Children Fund and Simon Maxwell, Director, ODI offering comment.