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Chinese Government-funded projects

How do development projects influence the geographic distribution of economic activity within low-income and middle-income countries? Existing research focuses on the effects of Western development projects on inter-personal inequality and inequality across different subnational regions. However, China has become a major financier of economic infrastructure in Africa. This dataset geo-locates Chinese Government-financed projects between 2000 and 2014. It captures 3,485 projects worth $273.6 billion in total official financing. It includes both Chinese aid and non-concessional official financing. Chinese development projects in general, and Chinese transportation projects in particular, appear to reduce economic inequality within and between subnational localities.

RCoE Action:

Bluhm, Richard, Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks, Austin Strange, and Michael Tierney. 2018. Connective Financing: Chinese Infrastructure Projects and the Diffusion of Economic Activity in Developing Countries. ​AidData Working Paper #64. Williamsburg, VA: AidData at William & Mary. &* AidData Research and Evaluation Unit. 2017. Geocoding Methodology, Version 2.0. Williamsburg, VA: AidData at William & Mary. https://www.aiddata.org/publications/geocoding-methodology-version-2-0 *Please note: Both works count as the official citation for this dataset.

2000-2014

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