As China's economic boom has boosted domestic growth and income, higher wage costs are moving an increasing number of Chinese firms overseas. This presents a favorable opportunity for less developed countries in Africa and Asia to boost their export and manufacturing sectors, as well as...

In a thoroughly researched piece, Brautigam, Tang, and Xia offer a preliminary analysis of the nature of Chinese manufacturing investments in Africa, focusing predominantly on four countries -- Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Drawing on fieldwork conducted between 2014 and 2016, they...

This paper uses Ghana as a case study to illustrate the extent to which Chinese manufacturing firms are driving manufacturing in an African country. Through the combination of desktop and field research, the author finds that the total number of Chinese manufacturing investments in Ghana indeed...

This paper by Tang Xiaoyang looks into China-Africa Cotton (CAC), one of the first Chinese cotton firms to enter the African market. The study analyzes China-Africa Cotton's operations in Zambia to investigate the impact on the technological development of the local cotton sector. As a new...

The uniqueness and diversity of socio-economic conditions in Africa call for a careful case-by-case examination to understand the real impacts of FDI on knowledge development. As such, this study aims to shed light on the knowledge transfer effects of Chinese investment in Africa's manufacturing...

In this set of publications (a working paper and a policy brief), Tang Xiaoyang offers a detailed analysis of the Ethiopian leather sector. Built from fieldwork conducted between 2011 and 2018, this research highlights the role of Chinese investments into the Ethiopian leather sector and offers...

In December 2018, a leaked letter from Kenya's Auditor General (AG) warned that Kenya Ports Authority's assets-of which Mombasa Port is the most valuable-risked being taken over by China Eximbank if Kenya defaulted on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) loans. The rumor that Kenya had used Mombasa...

This paper examines over 100 reported African hydropower projects with Chinese engagement, gleaned from media reports and lists compiled by organizations like AidData and International Rivers. The paper primarily finds that the Chinese are funding considerably fewer large hydropower projects...

Chinese loan finance is often misunderstood in Africa. This paper provides an overview of a new database on Chinese loans and describes the research methodology for collecting this data. The authors report on the scale of these loans, their African recipients, and the sectors where borrowers are...

As China is poised to become the world's largest creditor, concerns about debt sustainability have grown. Yet considerable confusion exists over what is likely to happen when a government runs into trouble repaying its Chinese loans. In this paper, the authors draw on CARI data to review the...