"Initiative as Institution: How the Belt and Road Initiative Influences Chinese Firms’ Participation in Global Value Chains" - by CWP alum Weiwin Yin
This article investigates how the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), proposed by China in 2013, influences the participation of Chinese firms in the global value chains (GVCs). More than just an economic strategy, BRI could serve as a substitute for inadequate contract enforcement in cross-border economic transactions between Chinese firms and their foreign counterparts. Using data from Chinese private companies listed from 2008 to 2016 and multiplicative interaction models, this article evaluates the impact of BRI as a policy shock that enhances contract enforcement and encourages Chinese firms’ participation in the GVCs. The results suggest that, following the implementation of the BRI in 2013, private firms with political ties to the government became more active participants in the GVCs, thanks to greater support from the Chinese state in facilitating contract enforcement abroad. The findings imply that BRI, as a state-led economic strategy, can also function as a mechanism that encourages private firms with political connections to expand globally by reducing transaction costs in cross-border trade activities.
The Chinese Journal of International Politics, Volume 18, Issue 1, 2025, Pages 63–84, https://doi.org/10.1093/cjip/poae025
I am currently an assistant professor at the Department of Government and Public Administration, University of Macau. I received my Ph.D. degree from the Department of Political Science, Texas A&M University, worked as an assistant professor at The Education University of Hong Kong, and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program.
My primary areas of interest include international political economy, specifically focusing on the role of contracting institutions in cross-border transactions. I am also actively researching the political economy of state building, particularly in the context of pre-modern East Asia. Additionally, my work extends to computational social sciences, such as the estimation of heterogeneous treatment effects. My publications appear in Journal of Conflict Resolution, Review of International Organizations, Political Science Research and Methods, Explorations in Economic History, among others.
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