Used well, aid can generate large payoffs in terms of reducing poverty, meeting basic needs, and helping nations build human and institutional capacity. While aid has eradicated diseases, prevented famines, and done many other good things, its effects on growth are often difficult to establish given the limited data that is available. Arndt et al (2010) found that it was reasonable to assume that aid equivalent to 1% of a country's gross domestic product raised that country's economic growth by an average of 0.1% per year during the period 1970-2000.