The China Africa Research Initiative published in September 2021 a paper titled "How Zambia and China Co-Created a Debt 'Tragedy of the Commons'" by Deborah Brautigam.
Zambia is an extreme case of principal-agent problems in Chinese lending. Among all African countries with Chinese loans, Zambia has the second largest number (after Angola) of different Chinese contractors winning Chinese loan-financed projects, and the largest number of distinct Chinese lenders. This multiplication of stakeholders has created fierce competition for infrastructure contracts in Zambia.
