What draws investment to special economic zones? Lessons from developing countries

Susanne A. Frick and Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

Regional Studies, 2023, vol. 57, issue 11, 2136-2147

Abstract: Special economic zones (SEZs) are a popular policy tool for the promotion of economic development. However, questions remain about their economic contribution and about what aspects of SEZ policies are most relevant to investors. This article sheds light on these issues by comparing SEZs across Africa, Asia and Latin America. We find that while investment decisions by foreign companies are driven by market access, political stability and low labour costs, adequate SEZ policies facilitate the attraction of investment. A good industrial infrastructure together with a strategic location and service provision within the zones draw investment. Fiscal incentives, by contrast, have a limited influence on investment decisions.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00343404.2023.2185218 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: What draws investment to Special Economic Zones? Lessons from developing countries (2023)
Working Paper: What draws investment to Special Economic Zones? Lessons from developing countries (2023)
Working Paper: What draws investment to special economic zones? Lessons from developing countries (2023)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:regstd:v:57:y:2023:i:11:p:2136-2147

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CRES20

DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2023.2185218

Access Statistics for this article

Regional Studies is currently edited by Ivan Turok

More articles in Regional Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().