Congratulation to Professor Li,  who has published a new research article in The World Economy, an international political economy journal. Please click the link below for the article.

Zheng, Huanhuan and Li, Chen. “Can Money Buy Friendship?—Evidence from the US and China’s Competition for Influence through Foreign Aid”. The World Economy.

Abstract:

Using bilateral aid data from 47 donors to 194 recipients, we find that while donors reward good relationship with more foreign aid, recipients sweeten their political relations with donors only after aid cuts. The negative impact of aid on political relations is more pronounced after the Cold War, in politically stable regions, and in countries where China and the United States are both donors. We provide evidence that the competition for influence among donors with distinct political pursuits and the conflicts between donors and recipients in aid implementation are driving the results.