Does Chinese Foreign Direct Investment Improve the Welfare of Africans?

This paper assesses the impact of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) on welfare in African economies using recently available data on Chinese FDI in 52 African countries between 2003 and 2018. Using fixed effects and instrumental variable (IV) estimations, we find that Chinese FDI contributes significantly to the improvement of welfare in African countries. This positive impact also holds for the sub-sample of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. The results are robust across the fixed effects and IV estimations when variables that affect welfare are controlled for. The findings suggest that China's claim of a "win-win" aim for its rising investment in African countries may hold.