Towards economically dynamic Special Economic Zones in emerging countries

Susanne Frick, Andrés Rodríguez-Pose and Michael Wong

No 1816, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: Despite a massive recent proliferation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), there is virtually no quantitative research on what drives their dynamism. The aim of this paper is to address this gap and analyse the factors influencing SEZ performance ? proxied by economic growth ? in emerging countries. The paper relies on two novel datasets, using night-lights data to proxy for SEZ performance and containing a wide range of SEZ policy variables and characteristics across a large number of countries. The main results of the analysis indicate that a) zone growth is difficult to sustain over time; that b) trying to upgrade the technological component or value-added of the economy through SEZ policies is often challenging; and that c) zone size matters: larger zones have an advantage in terms of growth potential. Furthermore, country context significantly determines SEZ performance. Firms look for low cost locations, but in close proximity to large cities. Proximity to large markets as well as pre-existing industrialization also increase SEZ performance. In contrast, incentives and other program specific variables are highly context-specific and not structurally correlated with SEZ performance.

Keywords: Special Economic Zones; Developing Countries; Industrial Policy; Economic Growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L52 O14 O24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-04, Revised 2018-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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http://econ.geo.uu.nl/peeg/peeg1816.pdf Version April 2018 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Towards economically dynamic Special Economic Zones in emerging countries (2019)
Working Paper: Towards economically dynamic Special Economic Zones in emerging countries (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egu:wpaper:1816

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