U.S. economic aid allocation: The quest for cumulation

Since the late sixties foreign policy analysts have used quantitative methods to estimate the effects of variables hypothesized to have affected US bilateral economic aid decisions. Unfortunately, as of yet, a cumulation of knowledge on the economic assistance phenomenon has not been widely acknowledged by researchers in the field. In this study the findings of past multivariate studies of economic aid will be compiled and examined, and cumulation will be identified. Once this task is completed two prescriptions will be offered to foreign policy researchers, in the hope that progress toward understanding of foreign aid decisions will occur at a swifter pace in the future.