Foreign assistance and emigration : accounting for the role of non-transferred aid

Since policymakers increasingly regard foreign aid as a means to manage international flows of migrants, it is important to obtain accurate empirical evidence on the complex link between aid and migration. Recent research has shown that the impact of foreign assistance on migrant flows is highly heterogenous across aid categories. In this RSCAS working paper, Mauro Lanati and Rainer Thiele focus on a dimension of heterogeneity that has so far not been considered in the literature, namely whether or not the delivery of foreign aid is associated with a transfer of resources to the recipient country.

This research has been carried out within the framework of the MEDAM project funded by Stiftung Mercator.