This paper by Peter Boone examines the effectiveness of foreign aid programs in recipient countries, focusing on the role of political regimes. Boone categorizes political regimes into three types: egalitarian, elitist, and laissez-faire, and analyzes how these regimes use foreign aid. Using data on nonmilitary aid flows to 96 countries, Boone tests reduced-form equations and finds that elitist political regimes best predict the impact of aid. Aid does not significantly increase investment or growth but increases government size. The impact of aid is not influenced by the political regime's liberal or repressive nature, but liberal democratic regimes have lower infant mortality rates, suggesting greater empowerment of the poor. The paper concludes that short-term aid targeted at supporting new liberal regimes may be more effective in reducing poverty than current programs.This paper by Peter Boone examines the effectiveness of foreign aid programs in recipient countries, focusing on the role of political regimes. Boone categorizes political regimes into three types: egalitarian, elitist, and laissez-faire, and analyzes how these regimes use foreign aid. Using data on nonmilitary aid flows to 96 countries, Boone tests reduced-form equations and finds that elitist political regimes best predict the impact of aid. Aid does not significantly increase investment or growth but increases government size. The impact of aid is not influenced by the political regime's liberal or repressive nature, but liberal democratic regimes have lower infant mortality rates, suggesting greater empowerment of the poor. The paper concludes that short-term aid targeted at supporting new liberal regimes may be more effective in reducing poverty than current programs.