Does China’s Education and Cultural Diplomacy Promote Economic Growth in the Belt and Road Countries?

Abstract

By employing panel data estimation for the period 2010–2019 we test the economic effects of China’s education and cultural diplomacy in 56 Belt and Road countries. For empirical analysis, we used pooled ordinary least squares (POLS). Our empirical finding shows that China’s education and cultural diplomacy has a positive and significant impact on trade and economic growth and these findings are robust to the estimation approaches. It is suggested that developing countries from the Belt and Road Initiative should establish collaborations with China to establish “University-Industry Linkages” to capture the knowledge economy and to boost trade, economic and social development. Moreover, the Government of China should also pay more attention to the economic effects of China’s education and cultural factors like Confucius Institutes and Universities in policy design.