ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the eventual improvements in debt relief program design and implementation due to learning by doing and improved targeting of better governed countries. It describes the empirical literature has devoted only limited attention to the aspect and little effort has been made in collecting reliable data on actual debt relief granted to developing countries, one notable exception being the valuable work by Depetris Chauvin and Aart Kraay. Among the possible variables which could be affected by debt relief, we consider the following ones in order to test some simple hypotheses: to plot the correlation between actual debt relief and subsequent changes in the variables in the whole sample and also in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs). The chapter analyzes the determinants of debt relief allocation in order to assess whether donors are moving towards some kind of ex-post governance conditionality and their actual ability to design adequate incentive mechanisms.
