Chinese “aid” is a lightning rod for criticism. Policy-makers, journalists, and public intellectuals claim that Beijing uses its largesse to cement alliances with political leaders, secure access natural resources, create exclusive commercial opportunities firms—all at the expense of citizens living in developing countries. We argue much controversy about stems from failure distinguish between China's Official Development Assistance (ODA) more commercially oriented sources types state...

This paper introduces a new dataset of official financing — including foreign aid and other forms concessional non-concessional state from China to 138 countries between 2000 2014. We use these data investigate whether what extent Chinese affects economic growth in recipient countries. To account for the endogeneity aid, we employ an instrumental-variables strategy that relies on exogenous variation supply over time resulting changes steel production. Variation across results country's...

This article introduces a new dataset of official financing from China to 138 developing countries between 2000 and 2014. It investigates whether Chinese development finance affects economic growth in recipient countries. The results demonstrate that boosts short-term growth. An additional project increases by 0.41 1.49 percentage points 2 years after commitment, on average. While this study does not find significant financial support impairs the overall effectiveness aid Western donors,...

How big is China's aid to Africa? Does it complement or undermine the efforts of traditional donors? China releases little information, and outside estimates size nature Chinese vary widely. In an effort overcome this problem, AidData, based at College William Mary, has compiled a database thousands media reports on Chinese-backed projects in Africa from 2000 2011. The includes information 1,673 51 African countries $75 billion commitments official finance. This paper describes new...

China’s provision of development finance to other countries is sizable but reliable information scarce. We introduce a new open-source methodology for collecting project-level and create database Chinese official (OF) Africa from 2000 2011. find that commitments amounted approximately US$73 billion, which US$15 billion are comparable Official Development Assistance following Organization Economic Cooperation definitions. provide details on 1,511 projects fifty African countries. use this...

How do development projects influence the geographic distribution of economic activity within low-income and middle-income countries? Existing research focuses on effects Western inter-personal inequality across different subnational regions. However, China has recently become a major financier infrastructure in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Central Eastern Europe, it is unclear if these investments diffuse or concentrate activity. We introduce an original dataset geo-located...

China’s provision of development finance to other countries is sizable but reliable information scarce. We introduce a new open source methodology for collecting project-level and create database Chinese official Africa from 2000-2011. find that commitments amounted approximately US $73 billion, which $15 billion are comparable Official Development Assistance following OECD definitions. provide details on 1,511 projects 50 African countries. use this extend previous research aid conflict,...

According to popular accounts, China's international influence is increasing with its growing material capabilities. However, researchers repeatedly demonstrate gaps between power and influence. Building on earlier research, we propose an inclusive approach conceptualizing abroad. Our conditions net three dimensions. First, intentionality distinguishes intentional influence-seeking that accrues unintentionally via externalities. Second, a systematic treatment of Chinese intermediaries–the...

How do observers abroad assess the intentions of rising powers? Influential research in international relations suggests that powers can reassure others by using both behavior and rhetoric, but there is scarce rigorous evidence on relative effectiveness these strategies. In this article, we study whether to what extent variation behavioral rhetorical foreign economic policies a power moderate threat perceptions among declining power. We used scenario-based survey experiments administered an...

Abstract This study examines the emerging phenomenon of joint activities between international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and Chinese actors in third-party countries. How common are these activities, what forms do they take which involved? What motivations incentives for participants? And how compare to longstanding INGO engagement within China's borders? Based on key stakeholder interviews an original dataset over 130 INGO–China overseas development we analyse project locations,...

Chinese “aid” is a lightning rod for criticism. Policymakers, journalists, and public intellectuals claim that Beijing using its largesse to cement alliances with political leaders, secure access natural resources, create exclusive commercial opportunities firms — all at the expense of citizens living in developing countries. We argue much controversy about stems from failure distinguish between China’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) more commercially-oriented sources types state...

This paper studies the causal effect of transport infrastructure on spatial concentration economic activity. Leveraging a new global dataset geo-located Chinese government-financed projects over period from 2000 to 2014 together with measures inequality based remotely-sensed data, we analyse effects distribution activity within and between regions in large number developing countries. We find that Chinese-financed transportation reduce but not regions. In line land use theory, document range...

Abstract Over the past two decades, China has become a distinctive and increasingly important donor of development assistance for health (DAH). However, little is known about what factors influence China’s priority-setting DAH. In this study, we provide an updated analysis trends in priorities Chinese DAH compare them to comparable among OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors using data from AidData’s Global Finance Dataset (2000–2017, version 2.0) Creditor Reporting System (CRS)...

Abstract Why do governments pursue flashy international development projects despite more basic material needs? I argue that economically questionable “prestige projects” can be politically useful for legitimacy-seeking of small states in the Global South. Prestige provide these with otherwise unavailable symbolic capital as well a means seeking status. Using new data on China’s global finance since 1949, document nearly 400 prestige and show they are concentrated developing countries...

Chinese “aid” is a lightning rod for criticism. Policymakers, journalists, and public intellectuals claim that Beijing using its largesse to cement alliances with political leaders, secure access natural resources, create exclusive commercial opportunities firms — all at the expense of citizens living in developing countries. We argue much controversy about results from failure distinguish between China’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) more commercially-oriented sources types state...

Once a fixture of research in the social and behavioral sciences, volunteer subjects are now only rarely used human research. Yet volunteers potentially valuable resource, especially for conducted online. We argue that online laboratories able to produce high-quality data comparable from other pools. The scalability labs means they can large volumes multiple researchers, while imposing little or no financial burden. Using range original tests, we show paid respondents have different...

A new methodology, Tracking Underreported Financial Flows (TUFF), leverages open-source information on development finance by non-transparent, non-Western donors. If such methods prove to be valid and reliable, they can enhance our understanding of the causes consequences from non-transparent donors including, but not limited to, China. But face charges inaccuracy. In this study we create field-test a replicable 'ground-truthing' methodology verify, update, improve data with in-person...

Bilateral donors use foreign aid to pursue soft power. We test the effectiveness of in reaching this goal by leveraging a new dataset on precise commitment, implementation, and completion dates Chinese development projects. data from Gallup World Poll for 126 countries over 2006–2017 period identify causal effects with (i) an event-study model that includes high-dimensional fixed effects, (ii) instrumental-variables regressions rely exogenous variation supply government financing time. Our...