IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/emeeco/v15y2023i2p254-272.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of the Belt and Road Infrastructure Development on the Economic Growth of the Partner Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Zhihua Chen

Abstract

As of July 2022, China has signed more than 200 cooperation agreements on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with 149 countries and 32 international organizations. This research aims to explore the impact of the infrastructure development of this initiative on the economic growth of countries participating in the BRI. Based on the panel data of 130 participating countries and 46 other countries from 2006 to 2019, the difference-in-difference (DID) model and multiple robustness tests were used for empirical evaluation. We found a positive correlation between BRI and the economic growth of BRI-cooperating countries. The heterogeneity test results show that BRI has a more prominent role in promoting the economic growth of upper-middle-income and high-income countries with relatively good industrial foundations. The impact of improved infrastructure development through BRI accounted for 88.42% of the total mediating effect, which is much more significant than promoting industrial upgrading and enhancing innovation capacity. These results support the view that BRI should continue to advance infrastructure development to boost the economic growth of developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhihua Chen, 2023. "The Impact of the Belt and Road Infrastructure Development on the Economic Growth of the Partner Countries," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 15(2), pages 254-272, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:emeeco:v:15:y:2023:i:2:p:254-272
    DOI: 10.1177/09749101231167454
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09749101231167454
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09749101231167454?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    2. Lall, Somik V. & Lebrand, Mathilde, 2020. "Who wins, who loses? Understanding the spatially differentiated effects of the belt and road initiative," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    3. Ernesto M Pernia & Anil B Deolalikar (ed.), 2003. "Poverty, Growth, and Institutions in Developing Asia," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-4039-3779-7.
    4. Czernich, Nina, 2014. "Does broadband internet reduce the unemployment rate? Evidence for Germany," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 32-45.
    5. Alastaire Sèna ALINSATO, 2015. "Globalization, Poverty And Role Of Infrastructures," Journal of Economics and Political Economy, KSP Journals, vol. 2(1s), pages 197-212, May.
    6. Shahidur Khandker & Gayatri Koolwal, 2010. "How Infrastructure and Financial Institutions Affect Rural Income and Poverty: Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 1109-1137.
    7. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2010. "The worldwide governance indicators : methodology and analytical issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5430, The World Bank.
    8. Jacoby, Hanan C, 2000. "Access to Markets and the Benefits of Rural Roads," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(465), pages 713-737, July.
    9. Yang, Gaoju & Huang, Xianhai & Huang, Jiahui & Chen, Hangyu, 2020. "Assessment of the effects of infrastructure investment under the belt and road initiative," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Songco, Jocelyn A., 2002. "Do rural infrastructure investments benefit the poor? Evaluating linkages : a global view, a focus on Vietnam," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2796, The World Bank.
    11. Michael Lokshin & Ruslan Yemtsov, 2005. "Has Rural Infrastructure Rehabilitation in Georgia Helped the Poor?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 19(2), pages 311-333.
    12. Yu, Linhui & Zhao, Dan & Niu, Haixia & Lu, Futao, 2020. "Does the belt and road initiative expand China's export potential to countries along the belt and road?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    13. Deborah Fahy Bryceson & Annabel Bradbury & Trevor Bradbury, 2008. "Roads to Poverty Reduction? Exploring Rural Roads' Impact on Mobility in Africa and Asia," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 26(4), pages 459-482, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shin Takada & So Morikawa & Rika Idei & Hironori Kato, 2021. "Impacts of improvements in rural roads on household income through the enhancement of market accessibility in rural areas of Cambodia," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2857-2881, October.
    2. Sawada Yasuyuki & Sugawara Shinya & Shoji Masahiro & Shinkai Naoko, 2014. "The Role of Infrastructure in Mitigating Poverty Dynamics: The Case of an Irrigation Project in Sri Lanka," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(3), pages 1-28, July.
    3. Mu, Ren & van de Walle, Dominique, 2007. "Rural roads and poor area development in Vietnam," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4340, The World Bank.
    4. Jiang, Qichuan & Ma, Xuejiao & Wang, Yun, 2021. "How does the one belt one road initiative affect the green economic growth?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    5. Jacqueline Doremus, 2017. "Unintended Impacts: How roads change health and nutrition for ethnic minorities in Congo," Working Papers 1702, California Polytechnic State University, Department of Economics.
    6. Iimi,Atsushi & Lancelot,Eric R. & Manelici,Isabela & Ogita,Satoshi, 2015. "Social and economic impacts of rural road improvements in the state of Tocantins, Brazil," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7249, The World Bank.
    7. Nugent, Jeffrey B. & Lu, Jiaxuan, 2021. "China's outward foreign direct investment in the Belt and Road Initiative: What are the motives for Chinese firms to invest?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Sidong Zhao & Yiran Yan & Jing Han, 2021. "Industrial Land Change in Chinese Silk Road Cities and Its Influence on Environments," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-30, July.
    9. Khondoker Abdul Mottaleb & Dil Bahadur Rahut, 2019. "Impacts of Improved Infrastructure on Labor Allocation and Livelihoods: The Case of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge, Bangladesh," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(4), pages 750-778, September.
    10. Koffi Dumor & Yao Li & Ma Yongkai & Enock Mintah Ampaw & Hafez Komla Dumor, 2022. "Evaluating the belt and road initiative effects on trade and migration: Evidence from the East African community," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(1), pages 16-28, March.
    11. Martin Wiegand & Eric Koomen & Menno Pradhan & Christopher Edmonds, 2023. "The Impact of Road Development on Household Welfare in Rural Papua New Guinea," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(6), pages 933-953, June.
    12. Máximo Torero & Lorena Alcazar & Eduardo Nakasone, 2007. "El suministro de servicios públicos y bienestar social para los pobres. Aprendizaje de la privatización incompleta del sector eléctrico en Perú," Research Department Publications 3233, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    13. Lu, Haiyan & Zhao, Pengjun & Hu, Haoyu & Zeng, Liangen & Wu, Kai Sheng & Lv, Di, 2022. "Transport infrastructure and urban-rural income disparity: A municipal-level analysis in China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    14. Ramprasad Sengupta & Dipankor Coondoo & Bhisma Rout, 2016. "Socio-economic Well-being—Impact of Wider Highways on the Rural Poor Living in Proximity," Journal of Development Policy and Practice, , vol. 1(2), pages 222-264, July.
    15. Getachew, Yoseph Yilma, 2010. "Public capital and distributional dynamics in a two-sector growth model," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 606-616, June.
    16. Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz & Yuxin Lu, 2022. "The role of the One-Belt One-Road initiative in China’s exports and global value chains," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 17(2), pages 317-341, June.
    17. Escobal, Javier, 2005. "The Role of Public Infraestructure in Market Development in Rural Peru," MPRA Paper 727, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Beuselinck, Christof & Cao, Lihong & Deloof, Marc & Xia, Xinping, 2017. "The value of government ownership during the global financial crisis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 481-493.
    19. Hannes Thees, 2020. "Towards Local Sustainability of Mega Infrastructure: Reviewing Research on the New Silk Road," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-35, December.
    20. Independent Evaluation Group, 2010. "A Multicomponent Irrigation Program in Peru," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 29754, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:emeeco:v:15:y:2023:i:2:p:254-272. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.emergingmarketsforum.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.