Thepaper “Has B&R Initiative Improved Infrastructure Performance in B&RCountries?” coauthored by Professor Jianjun LI and doctoral student Juncheng LIof the School of Finance, was published in the 4th issue of “Journal of LanzhouUniversity (Social Sciences)” in 2018.

Abstract: Currently, China’sB&R initiative has implemented the construction of interconnection andinter-communication infrastructure. With the global sample data from 2002 to2006, this paper examines whether the initiative can improve the infrastructureperformance in B&R countries. By using various models and empiricalmethods, a stable conclusion is drawn that the initiative has significantlyimproved the performance and has an increasing positive effect on it year byyear. The study also finds the impact is characterized by heterogeneity.Further probes into the mechanism indicate the initiative has a more notableimpact on the performance of the countries with more direct foreign investmentsand higher proportion of international credit, or lower costs of patentapplication and intellectual property acceptance. All this proves thatrelieving financial constraints and providing technical support may be theimportant mechanisms of the initiative to im-prove the infrastructureperformance of the B&R countries.

Keywords:B&R;Infrastructure; Difference-in-differences; Infrastructure Performance; FinancialConstraints; Technical Support