Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Chinese Investment in Africa

Brookings published in August 2015 a study titled "Why Is China Investing in Africa? Evidence from the Firm Level" by David Dollar, Brookings, Heiwai Tang, Johns Hopkins University, and Wenjie Chen, George Washington University.

The study makes the following key points.  Contrary to popular belief, China accounts for only about 3 percent of the stock of direct investment in Africa.  Chinese investment is attracted to natural resource wealth, but no more so than Western investment.  Chinese investment is indifferent to the recipient countries' property rights and rule of law, whereas Western investment tends to stay away from the poor governance environments.