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Does Chinese research hinge on US co-authors? Evidence from the China initiative

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Listed:
  • Aghion, Philippe
  • Antonin, Celine
  • Paluskiewicz, Luc
  • Stromberg, David
  • Wargon, Raphael
  • Westin, Karolina
  • Sun, Xueping

Abstract

Launched in November 2018 by the Trump administration, the China Initiative was meant to "protect US intellectual property and technologies against Chinese Economic Espionage". In practice, it made administrative procedures more complicated and funding less accessible for collaborative projects between Chinese and US researchers. In this paper we use information from the Scopus database to analyze how the China Initiative shock affected the volume, quality and direction of Chinese research. We find a negative effect of the Initiative on the average quality of both the publications and the co-authors of Chinese researchers with prior US collaborations. Moreover, this negative effect has been stronger for Chinese researchers with higher research productivity and/or who worked on US-dominated fields and/or topics prior to the shock. Finally, we find that Chinese researchers with prior US collaborations reallocated away from US coauthors after the shock and also towards more basic research.

Suggested Citation

  • Aghion, Philippe & Antonin, Celine & Paluskiewicz, Luc & Stromberg, David & Wargon, Raphael & Westin, Karolina & Sun, Xueping, 2023. "Does Chinese research hinge on US co-authors? Evidence from the China initiative," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121300, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:121300
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Mueller, Elisabeth & Boeing, Philipp, 2024. "Global influence of inventions and technology sovereignty," ZEW Discussion Papers 24-024, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, revised 2024.
    2. Pierre Azoulay & Shumin Qiu & Claudia Steinwender, 2025. "Paper tiger? Chinese science and home bias in citations," CEP Discussion Papers dp2072, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trump administration; China; US intellectual property; technologies; espionage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

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