IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fdi/wpaper/4315.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What can we learn on Chinese aid allocation motivations from new available data? A sectorial analysis of Chinese aid to African countries

Author

Listed:
  • Marlène GUILLON

    (FERDI)

  • Jacky MATHONNAT

    (Cerdi - Université Clermont Auvergne)

Abstract

Since the creation of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000, Chinese official development assistance (ODA) to Africa has increased drastically. Only few analyses on the determinants of Chinese ODA allocation to African countries are available. Moreover, existing literature mainly focused on total aid flows while Chinese motivations for aid allocation might differ depending on the ODA sector considered. Our objective is to study the factors associated with Chinese aid allocation to African countries by sector between 2000 and 2014. We consider 3 ODA broad sectors as defined by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): the social infrastructure and services sector, the economic infrastructure and services sector and the production sector. Chinese ODA is measured using the AidData's Global Chinese Official Finance Dataset, 2000-2014, Version 1.0, released in fall 2017. Over the 2000-2014 period, China allocated 971, 218 and 138 ODA projects to African countries in the social infrastructure and services sector, the economic infrastructure and services sector and the production sector respectively. Between 2000 and 2014, the economic infrastructure and services sector was the first sector in terms of ODA amount with a total of US$18.9 billion ahead from the social infrastructure and services sector with US$7 billion or the production sector with US$3.1 billion. Results of our analysis suggest that the motivations of Chinese aid allocation to African countries differ by sector. Chinese ODA in the social infrastructure and services sector appears responsive to the economic needs of recipient countries but is also driven by foreign policy considerations. Chinese economic interest, in particular for natural resources acquisition, is associated with China’s ODA allocation in the economic infrastructure and services sector. Finally, while institutions in recipient countries are not related to Chinese ODA in the social infrastructure and services sector, we find that China allocates more ODA in the economic infrastructure and services sector and the production sector to African countries with weaker institutions. One of the strong conclusions of this study is to show that considering only China's overall aid to Africa can be misleading as to its underlying determinants, and therefore to point out the need to disaggregate the analysis by ODA sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Marlène GUILLON & Jacky MATHONNAT, 2018. "What can we learn on Chinese aid allocation motivations from new available data? A sectorial analysis of Chinese aid to African countries," Working Papers P225, FERDI.
    • Handle: RePEc:fdi:wpaper:4315
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ferdi.fr/sites/www.ferdi.fr/files/publication/fichiers/ferdi_wp225_jmathonnat_mguillon.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anderson, James E. & Yotov, Yoto V., 2016. "Terms of trade and global efficiency effects of free trade agreements, 1990–2002," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 279-298.
    2. Axel Dreher & Andreas Fuchs, 2015. "Rogue aid? An empirical analysis of China's aid allocation," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(3), pages 988-1023, August.
    3. Eric Neumayer, 2003. "What Factors Determine the Allocation of Aid by Arab Countries and Multilateral Agencies?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(4), pages 134-147.
    4. shepherd, Ben, 2010. "Geographical Diversification of Developing Country Exports," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 1217-1228, September.
    5. Younas, Javed, 2008. "Motivation for bilateral aid allocation: Altruism or trade benefits," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 661-674, September.
    6. Santos Silva, J.M.C. & Tenreyro, Silvana, 2011. "Further simulation evidence on the performance of the Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimator," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 112(2), pages 220-222, August.
    7. Nunnenkamp, Peter & Öhler, Hannes, 2011. "Aid Allocation through Various Official and Private Channels: Need, Merit, and Self-Interest as Motives of German Donors," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 308-323, March.
    8. Jean‐Claude Berthélemy, 2006. "Bilateral Donors’ Interest vs. Recipients’ Development Motives in Aid Allocation: Do All Donors Behave the Same?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 179-194, May.
    9. Dollar, David & Levin, Victoria, 2006. "The Increasing Selectivity of Foreign Aid, 1984-2003," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2034-2046, December.
    10. Peter J Buckley & L Jeremy Clegg & Adam R Cross & Xin Liu & Hinrich Voss & Ping Zheng, 2007. "The determinants of Chinese outward foreign direct investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(4), pages 499-518, July.
    11. Marlène GUILLON & Jacky MATHONNAT, 2017. "Is there a strategy in China’s health official development assistance to African countries?," Working Papers 201710, CERDI.
    12. Marlène GUILLON & Jacky MATHONNAT, 2017. "Is there a strategy in China’s health official development assistance to African countries?," Working Papers 201720, CERDI.
    13. Berthelemy, Jean-Claude & Tichit, Ariane, 2004. "Bilateral donors' aid allocation decisions--a three-dimensional panel analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 253-274.
    14. Marco Sanfilippo, 2010. "Chinese FDI to Africa: What Is the Nexus with Foreign Economic Cooperation?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 22(S1), pages 599-614.
    15. Acht, Martin & Mahmoud, Toman Omar & Thiele, Rainer, 2015. "Corrupt governments do not receive more state-to-state aid: Governance and the delivery of foreign aid through non-state actors," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 20-33.
    16. Stubbs, Thomas H. & Kentikelenis, Alexander E. & King, Lawrence P., 2016. "Catalyzing Aid? The IMF and Donor Behavior in Aid Allocation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 511-528.
    17. Clist, Paul, 2011. "25Years of Aid Allocation Practice: Whither Selectivity?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1724-1734.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Han Na Kim and Jinhwan Oh, 2021. "Sectoral Determinants of Korean Development Assistance: Similar, yet Different?," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 46(1), pages 85-105, March.

    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. Marlène Guillon & Jacky Mathonnat, 2018. "What can we learn on Chinese aid allocation motivations from new available data? A sectorial analysis of Chinese aid to African countries," Working Papers hal-01777484, HAL.
    2. Marlène GUILLON & Jacky MATHONNAT, 2018. "What can we learn on Chinese aid allocation motivations from new available data? A sectorial analysis of Chinese aid to African countries," Working Papers P225, FERDI.
    3. Marlène Guillon & Jacky Mathonnat, 2018. "What can we learn on Chinese aid allocation motivations from new available data? A sectorial analysis of Chinese aid to African countries," Post-Print hal-01777484, HAL.
    4. Marlène Guillon & Jacky Mathonnat, 2019. "What can we learn on Chinese aid allocation motivations from available data ? A sectorial analysis of Chinese aid to African countries," Post-Print hal-02005784, HAL.
    5. Guillon, Marlène & Mathonnat, Jacky, 2020. "What can we learn on Chinese aid allocation motivations from available data? A sectorial analysis of Chinese aid to African countries," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    6. Marlène Guillon & Jacky Mathonnat, 2017. "Is there a strategy in China’s health official development assistance to African countries?," CERDI Working papers halshs-01519715, HAL.
    7. Marlène GUILLON & Jacky MATHONNAT, 2017. "Is there a strategy in China’s health official development assistance to African countries?," Working Papers 201710, CERDI.
    8. Marlène Guillon & Jacky Mathonnat, 2017. "Is there a strategy in China’s health official development assistance to African countries?," Working Papers halshs-01519715, HAL.
    9. Stubbs, Thomas H. & Kentikelenis, Alexander E. & King, Lawrence P., 2016. "Catalyzing Aid? The IMF and Donor Behavior in Aid Allocation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 511-528.
    10. Mohamed Boly, 2021. "On the allocation of environmental aid : strategy beyond environmental considerations?," CERDI Working papers hal-03174770, HAL.
    11. Marlène Guillon & Jacky Mathonnat, 2019. "Is there a Strategy in China’s Health Official Development Assistance to African Countries ?," Post-Print hal-03157281, HAL.
    12. Nagae, Akira & Katayama, Hajime & Takase, Koichi, 2022. "Donor aid allocation and accounting standards of recipients," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    13. Axel Dreher & Peter Nunnenkamp & Maya Schmaljohann, 2015. "The Allocation of German Aid: Self-interest and Government Ideology," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 160-184, March.
    14. Barthel, Fabian & Neumayer, Eric & Nunnenkamp, Peter & Selaya, Pablo, 2014. "Competition for Export Markets and the Allocation of Foreign Aid: The Role of Spatial Dependence among Donor Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 350-365.
    15. Raschky, Paul A. & Schwindt, Manijeh, 2012. "On the channel and type of aid: The case of international disaster assistance," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 119-131.
    16. de Felice, Damiano, 2015. "Diverging Visions on Political Conditionality: The Role of Domestic Politics and International Socialization in French and British Aid," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 26-45.
    17. Ahsan Kibria & Reza Oladi & Ryan Bosworth, 2021. "Political economy of aid allocation: The case of Arab donors," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(8), pages 2460-2495, August.
    18. Masaki, Takaaki, 2016. "Coups d’État and Foreign Aid," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 51-68.
    19. Donaubauer, Julian & Meyer, Birgit & Nunnenkamp, Peter, 2016. "Aid, Infrastructure, and FDI: Assessing the Transmission Channel with a New Index of Infrastructure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 230-245.
    20. Acht, Martin & Omar Mahmoud, Toman & Thiele, Rainer, 2014. "Corrupt governments receive less bilateral aid: Governance and the delivery of foreign aid through non-government actors," Kiel Working Papers 1901, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Official development assistance; China; Africa; sectorial analysis.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:fdi:wpaper:4315. 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: Vincent Mazenod (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ferdifr.html .

    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.