The Domestic Political Economy of China’s Foreign Aid
The Review of Economics and Statistics
2025
Abstract I study how domestic political considerations influence the foreign policy choices of autocratic regimes, by analyzing China’s foreign aid. First, using contractor-level data, I document how the regime uses foreign aid projects to help maintain domestic stability: aid projects are awarded to state-owned firms in Chinese prefectures hit by social unrest, increasing employment and future political stability. Second, I find that this strategy to manage domestic unrest affects the global allocation of Chinese aid, since state-owned firms pursue projects in countries where they have prior connections.
- DOI
- 10.1162/rest.a.1624
- Pages
- 1-45
- Language
- en
- Export
- BibTeX
- Sources
- openalex crossref