The Impact of China’s “Stadium Diplomacy” on Local Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
利用差分法分析中国在撒哈拉以南非洲援建体育场对当地经济的影响，发现城市夜间灯光强度平均增加约24%，周边就业率提升最多10个百分点，反驳了“白象”项目的批评。
This study investigates the economic impact of China’s “stadium diplomacy” in Sub-Saharan Africa. Exploiting the staggered timing of the construction in a difference-in-differences framework, we analyze the effect of Chinese-built and financed stadiums on local economic development. Employing nighttime light satellite data, we provide both an aggregate and spatially disaggregated assessment of these investments. We find that a stadium’s city nighttime light intensity increases by about 24 percent, on average, after stadium completion. The effects can be attributed to the stadiums but are not only visible close to the stadium’s location. Estimates on nighttime light activity are mirrored by individual-level employment effects in the stadiums’ surrounding area. For stadiums not built or financed by China, we cannot find similar effects. Our results contrast with the widely held notion that China’s development finance projects constitute “white elephants”. • Estimation of causal effect of the Chinese “stadium diplomacy” on local economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. • Stadiums have large and persistent effect on nighttime light emissions. • On average, a stadium increases local economic development proxied by nightlights by 27 percent over the whole post-treatment period at the city level. • We use DHS enumeration areas within 5 and 10km of the stadiums and find an increase in employment of up to 10 percentage points.