Aid, Aid for Trade, and bilateral trade: An empirical study

In a gravity model for 184 countries between 1990 and 2005, we show that bilateral aid is not only positively correlated with donor exports, as suggested in earlier studies, but also positively associated with recipient exports to donors. Our interpretation is that an intensified aid relation reduces the effective cost of distance. We find a particularly strong effect of aid in the form of technical assistance. The effect of trade-related assistance (Aid for Trade) is small and fully accounted for by aid to investments in trade-related infrastructure. The aid-trade link is particularly strong for donor exports to Sub-Saharan African countries and for recipient exports of strategic materials.