China's Financing of African Dams and Social Welfare

The China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies published in March 2019 a study titled "Do China-Financed Dams in Sub-Saharan Africa Improve the Region's Social Welfare? A Case Study of the Impacts of Ghana's Bui Dam" by Keyi Tang and Yingjiao Shen.

The authors found following completion of the Bui Dam in Ghana that the likelihood of households living in the treatment region having access to electricity increased by about 4 percent. However, given that urban households witnessed an average 14.5 percent increase in their likelihood of accessing electricity, the Bui Dam's improvement of electrification may be predominant in urban and wealthy households.