in the last two decades researchers have scrutinised the conditions under which aid is effective william easterly argued that the us billion spent on aid to africa over the last years has not lifted average african incomes other recent crosscountry analyses also conclude that the relationship between aid and development is weak and often ambiguous rajan and subramanian easterly et al in a recent metaanalysis of the literature doucouliagos and paldam conclude that the overall finding on aid ineffectiveness has not been overturned though there are some results suggesting certain components of aid may be effective