Research
My research has recently been supported by the University of Hong Kong, the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong, the Wilson Center, Harvard University's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Asia Center, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation and Orrick Fellows Program, AidData, and Mercy Corps.
Books
Banking on Beijing: The Aims and Impacts of China’s Overseas Development Program. 2022. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, with Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks and Michael Tierney.
Reviewed in the China Journal, China Quarterly, Economic Geography, International Affairs, Journal of East Asian Studies, Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, Review of International Organizations
Six Years at Sea...and Counting: Gulf of Aden Anti-Piracy and China’s Maritime Commons Presence. 2015. Washington, D.C.: Jamestown Foundation, with Andrew Erickson.
No Substitute for Experience: Chinese Anti-Piracy Activities in the Gulf of Aden. 2013. Newport: Naval War College Press China Maritime Study #10, with Andrew Erickson.
Articles
“Puzzling Partnerships: Overseas Infrastructure Development by Chinese State-Owned Enterprises and Humanitarian Organizations.” Forthcoming, Studies in Comparative International Development, with Wendy Leutert and Elizabeth Plantan.
“Conditioning China’s International Influence: Intentionality, Intermediaries, and Institutions.” 2023. Journal of Contemporary China 32(139): 1–16, with Courtney Fung, Enze Han, and Kai Quek.
Featured on 国政学人
“High-profile Infrastructure and China’s Global Influence Gamble.” 2022. Global China Pulse 1(1): 111–121.
"Aid, China and Growth: Evidence from a New Global Development Finance Dataset." 2021. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 13(2), with Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks, and Michael Tierney.
"Foreign Aid and the Status Quo: Evidence from Pre-Marshall Plan Aid." 2019. Chinese Journal of International Politics 12(4): 585-613, with Daniel Markovits and Dustin Tingley.
"Seven Decades of Chinese State Financing in Africa: Tempering Contemporary Debates." 2019. Economic History of Developing Regions 34(3): 259-279.
"Autocratic Aid and Governance: What We Know, Don’t Know, and Need to Know." 2019. American Political Science Association Annals of Comparative Democratization 17(2): 11-16, with Bradley Parks.
"Online Volunteer Laboratories for Human Subjects Research." 2019. PLOS ONE 14(8): e0221676, with Ryan Enos, Mark Hill, and Amy Lakeman.
"Apples and Dragon Fruits: The Determinants of Aid and Other Forms of State Financing from China to Africa." 2018. International Studies Quarterly 62(1): 182-194, with Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks and Michael Tierney.
"Tracking Under-Reported Financial Flows: China’s Development Finance and the Aid-Conflict Nexus Revisited." 2017. Journal of Conflict Resolution 61(5): 935-963, with Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks and Michael Tierney.
"‘Ground-Truthing’ Chinese Development Finance in Africa: Field Evidence from Uganda and South Africa." 2016. Journal of Development Studies 52(6): 780-796, with Edwin Muchapondwa, Daniel Nielson, Michael Tierney, and Bradley Parks.
"China’s Blue Soft Power: Antipiracy, Engagement, and Image Enhancement." 2015. Naval War College Review 68(1): 71-91, with Andrew Erickson.
"Ripples of Change in Chinese Foreign Policy? Evidence from Recent Approaches to Nontraditional Waterborne Security." 2014. Asia Policy 17: 93-126, with Andrew Erickson.
"Aid to Africa: Harmful or Helpful?" 2014. China Economic Quarterly 18(2): 29-33, with Bradley Parks.
Selected Work in Progress
“Can Aid Buy Foreign Public Support? Evidence from Chinese Development Finance.” Revise and resubmit, Economic Development and Cultural Change, with Lukas Wellner, Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks and Michael Tierney.
"Connective Financing: Chinese Infrastructure Projects and the Diffusion of Economic Activity in Developing Countries." Under review, with Richard Bluhm, Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks and Michael Tierney.