By Yan Wang and Yinyin Xu Infrastructure investment is an indispensable driver of development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and many other developing regions, especially amid weak and uneven recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and several rounds of capital flight associated with monetary tightening in advanced countries. Over the past two decades, China has become the […]
Developing countries, home to the most economically disadvantaged populations vulnerable to climate change, are under pressure to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to minimize damage from environmental externalities. The amount of CO2 emissions is highly unequal among countries, both in historically cumulative terms and in current per capita terms. Historically, rich and developed countries have been […]
By Angie Ye During the week of March 25, members of the Global China Initiative (GCI) at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center) traveled to China to present their policy-oriented research to policymakers, engage in academic exchange with partner institutions, and connect with Boston University alumni based in China. Team members including […]
To meet the 1.5C warming threshold of the Paris Agreement, total coal-fired power generation needs to be reduced by 70 percent by 2030 and by 96 percent by 2050. The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) signaled the “beginning of the end” for the fossil fuel era, and prioritized a swift, fair transition with […]
Overseas development finance plays a pivotal role in China’s expanding global engagement. Existing scholarship portrays Chinese capital as “patient,” due to its higher tolerance of risk compared to Western capital, which prioritizes short-term gains. In a new working paper, David Landry and Keyi Tang demonstrate that this narrative overlooks the calculated decisions behind much of […]
By Ying Qian Many developing countries continue to suffer from the impacts of debt distress that were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic years. It is estimated that 61 emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) are in or at high risk of debt distress, and that more than $812 billion in debt needs to be restructured […]
China’s full integration into the Bretton Woods System (BWS) since it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001 raised questions about exactly how China relates to the BW institutions and the international economic order that they support. Existing studies debate whether China is supporting the BWS institutions and the order as a ‘responsible’ […]
By Oyintarelado Moses, Ishana Ratan and Lucas Engel From 2008-2021, China’s development finance institutions (DFIs), China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (CHEXIM), provided approximately $500 billion in overseas development finance (ODF), an amount nearly on the scale of World Bank lending during the same time period. The Boston University Global Development […]
The Global China Initiative (GCI) manages a suite of five interactive public databases that collectively track hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese loans and investment to a variety of sectors, including energy and other infrastructure development. GCI manages and updates these databases in a bid to provide transparent information to aid research, education, policymaking, journalism and […]
Southeast Asia is one of the regions with the world’s highest species richness and endemism. Its tropical ecosystems are characterized by rich biodiversity and complex biotic interactions among their species. Unfortunately, today, this region exhibits the world’s highest vertebrate extinction rates, primarily due to severe habitat loss. The countries in this region have seen deforestation […]