Year: 2021

The Global Domain of the Dollar: Eight Questions

Since the late 1950s, the world has come to use the US dollar to an extent that justifies speaking of the dollar’s global domain. In a new journal article published in the Atlantic Economic Journal, Global Development Policy Center Non-Resident Senior Fellow Robert McCauley contends that the global role of the dollar remains large and suffers […]

Why China Will Be a Steady Development Partner in an Uncertain Era

By Yan Wang, Yinyin Xu and Kevin P. Gallagher  On Jan. 10, 2021, China’s State Council Information Office issued a white paper entitled “China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era” (WP2021, hereafter). This new white paper is the first of its kind since an earlier 2014 ‘White Paper on China’s Foreign Aid’ (WP2014), which […]

Financing Ethiopia’s Railways with China and Turkey

By Yunnan Chen Following the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the role of debt finance—and China’s particular role in becoming the largest bilateral creditor to the developing world—has come to the fore as many developing countries, particularly in Africa, face crises on multiple fronts. Indeed, governments must now navigate an economic recession, a debt […]

Laying the Tracks: The Political Economy of Railway Development in Ethiopia’s Railway Sector and Implications for Technology Transfer

In a new working paper, Global China Initiative Fellow Yunnan Chen examines the railway sector in Ethiopia and discusses the implications of local decision-making on technology, skills transfer, and Chinese contractors. Following the international surge of Chinese capital and companies in the last decade and the rise of the Belt and Road Initiative, many African […]

The Hierarchy of the Offshore US-Dollar System: On Swap Lines, the FIMA Repo Facility and Special Drawing Rights

While it has become common to regard the international monetary system as hierarchical, the nature, shape and origin of this hierarchy often remain vague.  Taking on board insights of critical macro-finance, this study from the Global Economic Governance Initiative at the Global Development Policy Center conceptualizes international monetary hierarchy by focusing on different mechanisms to […]