Does the Belt and Road Initiative Affect the Business Environment of Participating Countries?

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Abstract

This article analyzes the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on the economic and business environment of its participants using the Global Doing Business Report from the World Bank. We use a difference-in-difference approach to identify the impact by considering BRI as an exogenous policy shock. We find that BRI positively impacts the business environment of the participating countries; in particular, there is a great improvement in the scores of business starting and contract enforcing. The positive effect is larger in low-income countries and the countries with a growing investment from China.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)425-444
Number of pages20
JournalJournal of the Asia Pacific Economy
Volume27
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China, Major Program (Grant No.08&ZD037).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

  • Belt and Road Initiative
  • business environment
  • propensity score matching
  • trade and investment
  • difference-in-difference

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