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Aid, China, and Growth: Evidence from a New Global Development Finance Dataset
Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks, Austin M. Strange and Michael J. Tierney

Published in: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 13(2): 135-174, May 2021





Abstract
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 Chinese development finance boosts short-term economic growth. An additional project increases growth by between 0.41 and 1.49 percentage points two years after commitment, on average. While this study does not find that significant financial support from China impairs the overall effectiveness of aid from Western donors, aid from the United States tends to be more effective in countries that receive no substantial support from China.

Published paper
Supplementary material
Database
Replication data
Working paper (October 2017)
Presentations at conferences and workshops
  • Departmental Talk of the Political Science Department, University of British Columbia in Vancouver (02/2020)
  • Gutenberg School of Management and Economics Faculty Seminar Series, University of Mainz, Germany (01/2020)
  • Research Seminar of the University College Dublin School of Economics, Dublin, Ireland (11/2019)
  • Research Seminar of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Luxembourg (11/2019)
  • Biennial Conference of the Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA), Johannesburg, South Africa (09/2019)
  • Annual Economic Research Southern Africa Workshop on ‘Structural Constraints on the Economy, Growth and Political Economy’, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa (09/2019)
  • Annual Meeting of the European Public Choice Society, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy (04/2018)
  • CSAE Conference on “Economic Development in Africa”, Oxford University, UK (03/2018)
  • Sheffield Workshop in Political Economy, University of Sheffield, UK (01/2018)
  • Fudan University School of International Relations and Public Affairs Shipai Workshop, Shanghai, China (12/2017)
  • Harvard Shanghai Conference on Africa and Asia, Shanghai, China (11/2017)
  • Development Seminar at Peking University's National School of Development, Beijing, China (11/2017)
  • Workshop "Tracking International Aid and Investment from Developing and Emerging Economies", Heidelberg University, Germany (07/2017)

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