Impact of China's Belt and Road Initiative on the Economic Complexity of Host Countries : Empirical Evidence

There is a continuing debate on whether China’s Belt and Road initiative is a global good or a geopolitical strategy to increase Chinese global influence. This transcontinental-scale initiative has attracted increasing academic interests and recent studies have mostly pointed to the positive effects on host countries such as improved governance. A country’s ability to manufacture more sophisticated products, thus moving up the value chain, is a key driver for sustainable economic growth. This paper investigates whether China’s Belt and Road investments have a significant effect on host countries’ economic complexity. The results show significant positive effects of Chinese investments on host countries’ economic complexity and production capacity