 Imitation or learning: Exploring the drivers of Special economic zonesRoberta Arbolino, Raffaele Boffardi, Mariangela Bonasia, Salvatore Capasso and Luisa De Simone Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 2025, vol. 72, issue C, 456-466 Abstract: This paper aims to explore how European governments approach the diffusion of Special Economic Zones besides the other types of Incentive Zones (Free Trade Zones, Free Zones and Free Ports) by examining whether they engage in comprehensive planning and programming or simply replicate policies based on the reputation of early adopters. The authors propose two reasons for adopting industrial policies: imitation, which involves replicating actions from other countries based on their economic or institutional status, and innovation, which entails adopting policies after carefully analysing their specific impacts. Results show that policymakers approach Incentive Zones establishment in a non-optimal way, that is, through a blind replication of policies already implemented in other countries showing a robust economic performance and a sound institutional background. Keywords: Incentive zones; Special economic zones; Industrial policy; Policy diffusion (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:streco:v:72:y:2025:i:c:p:456-466 DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2024.11.001 Access Statistics for this article Structural Change and Economic Dynamics is currently edited by F. Duchin, H. Hagemann, M. Landesmann, R. Scazzieri, A. Steenge and B. Verspagen More articles in Structural Change and Economic Dynamics from Elsevier |
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