This chapter surveys several aspects of the political economy of aid and the political economy of aid research. The first part reviews the politics of aid giving, with a specific focus on the use of aid to buy votes and aid allocated to recipients experiencing violent conflict. The survey then summarizes the literature on aid effectiveness on growth, capital accumulation, health, and education, and on institutions, and the links between aid and conflict. Finally, the survey explores the credibility of aid empirics, exploring issues of publication selection bias, heterogeneity, and statistical power. Direction for future research are outlined.