The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones

by Lotta Moberg

Author	: Lotta Moberg
Publisher	: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages	: 205
Release	: 2017-03-16
Genre	: Business & Economics
ISBN	: 1315298945

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This book examines SEZs from a political economy perspective, both to dissect the incentives of governments, zone developers, and exporters, and to uncover both the hidden costs and untapped potential of zone policies. Costs include misallocated resources, the encouragement of rent-seeking, and distraction of policy-makers from more effective reforms. However, the zones also have several unappreciated benefits. They can change the politics of a country, by generating a transition from a system of rent-seeking to one of liberalized open markets. In revealing the hidden promise of SEZs, this book shows how the SEZ model of development can succeed in the future.

The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Hubs and Economic Development

by Arkebe Oqubay

Author	: Arkebe Oqubay
Publisher	: Oxford University Press
Total Pages	: 800
Release	: 2020-07-23
Genre	: Business & Economics
ISBN	: 0192590944

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Industrialization supported by industrial hubs has been widely associated with structural transformation and catch-up. But while the direct economic benefits of industrial hubs are significant, their value lies first and foremost in their contribution as incubators of industrialization, production and technological capability, and innovation. The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Hubs and Economic Development adopts an interdisciplinary approach to examine the conceptual underpinnings, review empirical evidence of regions and economies, and extract pertinent lessons for policy reasearchers and practitioners on the key drivers of success and failure for industrial hubs. This Handbook illustrates the diverse and complex nature of industrial hubs and shows how they promote industrialization, economic structural transformation, and technological catch-up. It explores the implications of emerging issues and trends such as environmental protection and sustainability, technological advancement, shifts in the global economy, and urbanization.

Special Economic Zones in India

by Amitendu Palit

Author	: Amitendu Palit
Publisher	: Anthem Press
Total Pages	: 216
Release	: 2008-07-01
Genre	: Business & Economics
ISBN	: 1843313499

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Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are turning out to be one of the stiffest challenges for India's economic policy reforms. Since the announcement of SEZ rules on 10 February 2006, these zones have aroused unprecedented controversy. The emotionally charged debate on SEZs has often produced inflexible positions on either side. The unusually strong public reaction has also forced policymakers to revisit several aspects of the policy in recent months. Why are SEZs so controversial? Will they really exacerbate income inequality, endanger food security and worsen regional imbalance? Or will they help Indian industry in taking its final leap onto the global arena? Only time will provide the answers. As the first book on India's SEZs, this volume examines different popular perceptions - both good and bad - surrounding these zones. Apart from the international evidence and the Indian story, the book looks closely at critical issues like financial viability, land requirements, extant rules and the political economy of SEZs. Admitting that the last word on the subject is far from being spoken, the book contends that the SEZ saga will be a test of strength for the country's social and political concensus on its economic policies and future reforms. Introduced by eminent economist Bibek Debroy, this book is a must read.

Special Economic Zones in Africa

by Thomas Farole

Author	: Thomas Farole
Publisher	: World Bank Publications
Total Pages	: 328
Release	: 2011-01-01
Genre	: Business & Economics
ISBN	: 0821386395

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"This book, designed for policymakers, academics and researchers, and SEZ program practitioners, provides the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of SEZ programs in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the result of detailed surveys and case studies conducted during 2009 in ten developing countries, including six in Sub-Saharan Africa. The book provides quantitative evidence of the performance of SEZs, and of the factors which contribute to that performance, highlighting the critical importance not just of the SEZ itself but of the wider national investment climate in which it functions. It also provides a comprehensive guide to the key policy questions that confront governments establishing SEZ programs, including: if and when to launch an SEZ program, what form of SEZ is most appropriate, and how to go about implementing it. Among the most important findings from the study that is stressed in the book is the shift from traditional enclave models of zones to SEZs that are integrated ? with national trade and industrial strategies, with core trade and social infrastructure, with domestic suppliers, and with local labor markets.Although the book focuses primarily on the experience of Sub-Saharan Africa, its lessons will be applicable to developing countries around the world."

Special Economic Zones

by Thomas Farole

Author	: Thomas Farole
Publisher	: World Bank Publications
Total Pages	: 347
Release	: 2011-08-01
Genre	: Business & Economics
ISBN	: 0821387642

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For countries as diverse as China and Mauritius, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have been a powerful tool to attract foreign investment, promote export-oriented growth, and generate employment; for many others, the results have been less than encouraging. While the benefits and limitations of zones will no doubt continue to be debated, what is clear is that policymakers are increasingly attracted to them as an instrument of trade, investment, industrial, and spatial policy. Since the mid 1980s, the number of newly-established zones has grown rapidly in almost all regions, with dramatic growth in developing countries. In parallel with this growth and in the evolving context of global trade and investment, zones are also undergoing significant change in both their form and function, with traditional export processing zones (EPZs) increasingly giving way to larger and more flexible SEZ models. This new context will bring significant opportunities for developing countries to take advantage of SEZs, but will also raise new challenges to their successful design and implementation. This volume aims to contribute to a better understanding of the role and practice of SEZs in developing countries, in order to better equip policymakers in making effective decisions in planning and implementing SEZ programs. It covers some of the emerging issues and challenges in SEZs including upgrading, regional integration, WTO compliance, innovation, the environment, and gender issues with practical case examples from SEZ programs in developing countries.

Special Economic Zones in Asian Market Economies

by Connie Carter

Author	: Connie Carter
Publisher	: Routledge
Total Pages	: 326
Release	: 2010-09-13
Genre	: Law
ISBN	: 1136901701

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Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have proliferated rapidly during the past decade and are set to multiply in the next – embracing not only Asia and Europe but also Africa and the Americas. This book is the first to examine the Asian experience of SEZs in China, India, Malaysia and the Philippines. SEZs are usually clearly defined geographic areas in which national, provincial or local governments use policy tools (such as tax holidays; improved infrastructure; less onerous or differentiated regulations and incentives other than those generally available in the rest of the country) to attract and promote private - usually foreign - investment from enterprises which commit to create employment and to export their products or services, and generating foreign currency for the host country. SEZs have been especially successful in bringing about economic development in Asia, especially in China. This book examines the origins, nature and status of special economic zones in Asia, together with the current trends connected with them, and the challenges they currently face. Although the World Trade Organisation cast doubts in 1995 on the future of special economic zones as a viable policy tool in the development agenda, special economic zones continue to be used, and favoured, as a way of encouraging foreign investment and economic development, with for example India, trying to emulate China, reincorporating special economic zones into its development policy. This book provides regional case studies of SEZs in Asian market economies to analyse the extent to which these zones serve the changing needs of Asian development.

Dispossession Without Development

by Michael Levien

Author	: Michael Levien
Publisher	: Oxford University Press
Total Pages	: 337
Release	: 2018
Genre	: Business & Economics
ISBN	: 0190859156

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Winner of the 2019 Global and Transnational Sociology Best Book Award, American Sociological Association Winner of the 2019 Political Economy of World System (PEWS) Distinguished Book Award, American Sociological Association Received Honorable Mention for the 2019 Asia/Transnational Book Award, American Sociological Association Since the mid-2000s, India has been beset by widespread farmer protests against land dispossession. Dispossession Without Development demonstrates that beneath these conflicts lay a profound shift in regimes of dispossession. While the postcolonial Indian state dispossessed land mostly for public-sector industry and infrastructure, since the 1990s state governments have become land brokers for private real estate capital. Using the case of a village in Rajasthan that was dispossessed for a private Special Economic Zone, the book ethnographically illustrates the exclusionary trajectory of capitalism driving dispossession in contemporary India. Taking us into the lives of diverse villagers in "Rajpura," the book meticulously documents the destruction of agricultural livelihoods, the marginalization of rural labor, the spatial uneveness of infrastructure provision, and the dramatic consequences of real estate speculation for social inequality and village politics. Illuminating the structural underpinnings of land struggles in contemporary India, this book will resonate in any place where "land grabs" have fueled conflict in recent years.

The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones

by Lotta Moberg

Author	: Lotta Moberg
Publisher	: Routledge
Total Pages	: 225
Release	: 2017-03-16
Genre	: Business & Economics
ISBN	: 1315298937

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Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have become a popular development policy throughout the world over the last half a century. These zones form designated areas where governments offer businesses lower taxes, tariffs, and often lighter regulations. Generally, SEZs aim to attract investments and raise a country’s export and employment rates, but although success stories are often cited, there are numerous failed projects that have instead become burdens for their host countries. This book examines SEZs from a political economy perspective, both to dissect the incentives of governments, zone developers, and exporters, and to uncover both the hidden costs and untapped potential of zone policies. Costs include misallocated resources, the encouragement of rent-seeking, and distraction of policy-makers from more effective reforms. However, the zones also have several unappreciated benefits. They can change the politics of a country, by generating a transition from a system of rent-seeking to one of liberalized open markets. In revealing the hidden promise of SEZs, this book shows how the SEZ model of development can succeed in the future. Applying frameworks from various schools of political economy, this volume places SEZs in the context of their mixed past and promising future. It is essential reading for anyone with an interest in international economics, development economics, and political economy, including practitioners and consultants of SEZ policies.

The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones

by Lotta Moberg

Author	: Lotta Moberg
Publisher	:
Total Pages	: 34
Release	: 2014
Genre	:
ISBN	:

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This paper is a first attempt to apply a robust political economy framework to explain when Special Economic Zones (SEZs) can contribute to economic development. A robust political economy is one that channels the actions of self-interested individuals with limited information to promote economic progress. In the right institutional context, SEZs tend to promote economic growth. In the wrong institutional context, they can cause resource misallocation and rent-seeking. Policy makers introducing SEZs must overcome the knowledge problem to avoid misdirected economic planning. Yet, the scheme can only fulfill its purpose if it also prevents destructive rent-seeking behavior, both from businesses and from government authorities. The political economy framework of SEZs can be applied to judge their potential efficacy, something that orthodox studies of country features such as natural resources, infrastructure and zone location fail to do. The Indian and Chinese experiences with SEZs illustrate these points.