Research on the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on the sustainability of the resource-based economy of participating countries

As of December 2021, China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with 145 countries and 32 international organizations. The Belt and Road Initiative has exerted a considerable influence on the world. This research aims to explore the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on the sustainable development of the resource-based economy of countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. Based on the panel data of 130 countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative and 46 other countries from 2006 to 2019, the difference-in-difference (DID) model was used for empirical evaluation. After multiple robustness tests, the Belt and Road Initiative was found to negatively correlate with the economic dependence on the natural resources of BRI-participating countries, promoting sustainable economic growth. The heterogeneity test results show that BRI participating countries with low income and lower-middle income benefit more than countries with high income and higher-middle income. In comparison, the degree of impact has little correlation with whether they are countries along the Belt and Road. The results of the intermediary effect test show that the level of infrastructure, industrial upgrading, and technological progress has played an essential role in the process of BRI’s influence on reducing natural resource dependence to promote the sustainable development of BRI participating countries.