Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries

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 article is to address this gap and analyze the factors influencing SEZ performance—proxied by economic growth—in emerging countries. The...

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Main Authors:	Frick, Susanne A., Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, Wong, Michael D.
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	Taylor and Francis 2019
Subjects:	SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES INDUSTRIAL POLICY ECONOMIC GROWTH
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31270

id	okr-10986-31270
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-312702021-05-25T10:54:36Z Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries Frick, Susanne A. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés Wong, Michael D. SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES INDUSTRIAL POLICY ECONOMIC GROWTH 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 article is to address this gap and analyze the factors influencing SEZ performance—proxied by economic growth—in emerging countries. The article relies on two novel data sets, using nightlights 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 (1) zone growth is difficult to sustain over time; (2) trying to upgrade the technological component or value added of the economy through SEZ policies is often challenging; and (3) 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 preexisting industrialization also increase SEZ performance. In contrast, incentives and other program-specific variables are highly context specific and not structurally correlated with SEZ performance. 2019-02-13T19:38:33Z 2019-02-13T19:38:33Z 2018-05-23 Journal Article Economic Geography 0013-0095 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31270 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Taylor and Francis Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES INDUSTRIAL POLICY ECONOMIC GROWTH
spellingShingle	SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES INDUSTRIAL POLICY ECONOMIC GROWTH Frick, Susanne A. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés Wong, Michael D. Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries
description	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 article is to address this gap and analyze the factors influencing SEZ performance—proxied by economic growth—in emerging countries. The article relies on two novel data sets, using nightlights 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 (1) zone growth is difficult to sustain over time; (2) trying to upgrade the technological component or value added of the economy through SEZ policies is often challenging; and (3) 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 preexisting industrialization also increase SEZ performance. In contrast, incentives and other program-specific variables are highly context specific and not structurally correlated with SEZ performance.
format	Journal Article
author	Frick, Susanne A. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés Wong, Michael D.
author_facet	Frick, Susanne A. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés Wong, Michael D.
author_sort	Frick, Susanne A.
title	Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries
title_short	Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries
title_full	Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries
title_fullStr	Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries
title_full_unstemmed	Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries
title_sort	toward economically dynamic special economic zones in emerging countries
publisher	Taylor and Francis
publishDate	2019
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31270
_version_	1764473938734219264

Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries

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