ABSTRACT
Aid is an ambiguous word. Strictly defined, we believe it should refer only to the value of the subsidy implicit in the total flow of resources. Thus, grants of convertible currency are certainly aid to their full face value. But loans contain only an element of aid, some times an insignificant element. It is clearly misleading to lump these (and some other kind of 'aid') together, when assessing either the cost to donors and lenders or the benefit to recipients. Money lenders may benefit their clients, but we do not think of them as giving aid.
