Competitive infrastructure investment diffusion: emulating and learning from China

Yukyung Yeo

Review of International Political Economy, 2025, vol. 32, issue 4, 1002-1026

Abstract: Since the mid-2000s, international development has seen a growing emphasis on hard infrastructure projects, marking a shift away from traditional priorities in social and human development. This raises critical question: What explains the diffusion of infrastructure projects and the associated lending across regions? What drives changes in the preferences and policies of traditional lenders, and how have they adapted to the shifting geopolitical landscape shaped by China’s rise? While existing studies on development finance have extensively examined China’s strategies and influence within the regime, less attention has been given to the responses of traditional lenders to China’s global infrastructure initiatives. This study addresses this gap by employing and advancing international diffusion theory as an analytic framework. It explores how traditional lenders selectively learn from and implicitly emulate Chinese practices to maintain competitiveness within the evolving development finance landscape.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2025.2495689

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