GDP Center Round-Up: Fall 2022 Global China Research Colloquium
From post-pandemic industrialization to COVID-19 and southern African sovereign debt, researchers from around the world explored a variety of topics as part of the Fall 2022 Global China Initiative Research Colloquium over the past four months. The webinar series kicked off in September 2022, with a discussion led by Dr. Justin Yifu Lin on how developing country governments with limited resources can use industrial policies to recover in the post-pandemic world. The following month, Paulo Esteves and Rebecca Ray explored the social and environmental changes across four Amazon basin countries during and after a Chinese investment boom. Then in November, Oyintarelado (Tarela) Moses, Laura Gormley and Cecilia Springer discussed China’s new, emerging special investment funds. Concluding the series in December, Daniel Bradlow and Magalie Masamba discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and sovereign debt in the southern Africa region.
Below, see a summary and recording for each of the talks in the Fall 2022 Global China Initiative Research Colloquium:
The Future of Industrialization in a Post-Pandemic World
On Tuesday, September 13, Dr. Justin Yifu Lin, Director of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University, discussed the future of industrialization in a post-pandemic world.
A pioneering expert on the topic, Lin provided insights on how developing country governments with limited resources can use industrial policies to recover in the post-pandemic world. He argues developing countries need to make structural changes and suggests six steps for states seeking to industrialize. Due to global public health concerns, travel restrictions, supply chain disruptions, inflation and interest rates increases from the COVID-19 pandemic, attracting foreign capital has become particularly difficult for developing countries. Lin suggests focusing on assisting existing firms rather than attracting new ones and targeting fiscal support to identify and resolve the bottlenecks faced by firms. Read the webinar blog summary.
The ‘China Boom’ in the Amazon Basin: Social and Environmental Regulation amid a Commodity Supercycle
On Tuesday, October 11, Paulo Esteves, Coordinator at the BRICS Policy Center of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, and Rebecca Ray, Senior Academic Researcher at Boston University Global Development Policy Center, presented new research exploring the implications for managing environmental and social protections amid natural resource booms.
Esteves and Ray analyzed the commodity boom and slump in Latin America over the last two decades, focusing on the socio-environmental regulatory responses of four Amazon basin countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru) during and after the “China boom” in commodity production during the first decade of this century. Their research reinforced the idea that stronger socio-environmental protections were not a barrier to successful investments, but rather helped create more stable investments over the long term. Read the working paper and read the webinar blog summary.
Diversifying the Belt and Road Initiative: The Rise of China’s Overseas Development Investment Funds
On Tuesday, November 8, Oyintarelado (Tarela) Moses, Data Analyst and Database Manager for the Global China Initiative (GCI), and Laura Gormley, GCI Research Assistant, presented new research exploring the unique features, financing capacity, policy implications and potential of an emerging and under-studied area of China’s overseas economic engagement: overseas development investment funds.
In recent years, China has diversified outward finance towards other channels. Since the mid-2000s, Chinese public and private financing institutions have established special investment funds that primarily provide equity financing to sector and region-specific development projects. Moses, Springer and Gormley termed them ‘Overseas Development Investment Funds’ (ODIFs) and found they comprise $155 billion in capitalization. They argue China’s ODIFs may offer alternative financing for developing countries facing debt distress. Read the working paper and read the webinar blog summary.
COVID-19 and Sovereign Debt: The Case of the Southern African Development Community
On Tuesday, December 13, Daniel Bradlow, SARCHI Professor of International Development Law and African Economic Relations at the University of Pretoria, and Magalie Masamba, Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria, presented key findings from their 2021 book, “COVID-19 and Sovereign Debt: The Case of SADC”.
At the height of the pandemic in 2021, 17 authors from around the world came together to produce the 15-chapter book, covering issues of African sovereign debt management and restructuring in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region. Ultimately, the editors found that the current approach to Africa’s debt distress is insufficient and Africa needs a new approach to restructuring. They offer an innovative and comprehensive approach to dealing with Africa’s current debt problems, the Debts of Vulnerable Economies (DOVE) Fund. Read the book and read the webinar blog summary.
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