Global Development Policy Center
Articles about Global Development Policy Center
From Pledges to Practice: FOCAC 2027 and Africa’s Energy and Climate Future
By Mengdi Yue Established in 2000, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has been the primary diplomatic channel through which China and 53 African countries shape cooperation across trade, infrastructure, agriculture, health, culture, energy and climate. Amid the global energy transition, Africa cannot afford to wait without a strategy of its own. Deepening energy and climate cooperation with China should be a core part of the strategy.
US “Reciprocal” Trade Agreements and the Seven Sovereignties Constrained for Developing Countries
By Rachel Thrasher and Tim Hirschel-Burns The United States’ new Agreements on Reciprocal Trade (ARTs) represent a novel form of trade agreement, one with particularly worrying implications for countries in the Global South. Over the last year, ten parties have signed on to ARTs with the United States: Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Is Perception Reality? Evidence from Cross-Language Media Sentiments on the Chinese Economy
By Marialuz Moreno Badia and Vikram Dixit Kumaraswamy Economists have increasingly turned to news coverage to gauge economic sentiment in real time. However, this assumes there is one economic narrative to capture. For China, the world’s second largest economy, the world may not be watching through the same lens, as Chinese- and English-language media can
Perception Matters: Evidence from Cross-Language Media on the Chinese Economy
A new working paper from the Boston University Global Development Policy Center developed new cross-language sentiment indices capable of measuring and comparing how English- and Chinese-language media portray China’s economy over time. The research revealed a persistent perception gap between English and Chinese media sentiment toward China’s economy, with distinct links to market prices and monetary policy. The researchers analyzed more than 1.2 million news articles published between 2002 and 2020 in both English and Chinese, classif
Subsidised Retirement Beats a Buyout for China-backed Coal Plants – and Only China Can Make It Happen
By Alex Clark In 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a halt to new public funding for coal plants abroad. By this point, China's state banks and state-owned enterprises had already financed nearly 47 gigawatts of coal-fired power outside China, most of it built the previous decade. This fleet of China-backed plants, concentrated in South
International Investment Pushes Past and Present: Synthesizing and Concluding the Blog Series
By Tim Hirschel-Burns This blog is part of a blog series on past large-scale international investment programs and the lessons they provide for the investment push needed for development and climate action today. You can read the introduction to the blog series here, part 1 on the Marshall Plan here, part 2 on South Korea here, part 3