The Social and Environmental Impact of Special Economic Zones in Africa

Special economic zones (SEZs) are widely used across most developing and many developed economies. According to UNCTAD’s new SEZ database, there are nearly 5,400 zones across 147 economies as of 2019, up from about 4,000 five years ago. Although the performance of many zones remains below expectations, the rate of establishment of new zones is accelerating, and more than 500 new SEZs are already in the pipeline. In building new zones and revitalizing existing ones, policymakers and zone developers face new challenges in the context of a rapidly evolving global competitive landscape and the sustainable development imperative. This chapter provides an overview of the universe of SEZs and discusses their economic, social, and environmental impact—proposing an SEZ Sustainable Development Profit and Loss Statement. It highlights three key emerging challenges, points to five routes to modernizing SEZs, and outlines a pioneering idea of SDG model zones.

Download Full-text

Report on the Construction of the Social Credit System in China’s Special Economic Zones

Annual Report on the Development of China's Special Economic Zones (2016) - Current Chinese Economic Report Series ◽

10.1007/978-981-10-0542-8_6 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 153-171 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Keting Zhang ◽

Fang Zhang

Keyword(s):

Special Economic Zones ◽

Credit System ◽

Social Credit ◽

The Social ◽

Economic Zones

Download Full-text

Income tax exemption as a regional state aid in special economic zones and its impact upon development of Polish districts

Oeconomia Copernicana ◽

10.12775/oec.2016.015 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 245 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Adam A. Ambroziak

Keyword(s):

Economic Development ◽

Income Tax ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Positive Influence ◽

State Aid ◽

Special Economic Zones ◽

Regional State ◽

The Social ◽

Social And Economic Development ◽

Economic Zones

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) were established to attract entrepreneurs to invest in Polish regions in order to increase their social and economic development. One of the most important incentives offered in SEZs is state aid in the form of an income tax exemption. The objective of this paper is to verify if the regional state aid granted to entrepreneurs in SEZs has had a positive impact on the social and economic development of Polish poviats. The conducted research allowed for the conclusion that regional state aid in SEZs in the form of an income tax exemption was of a relatively higher importance to the poorest regions, while its significance was much lower in better developed areas in Poland. Moreover the intensity of regional state aid granted to entrepreneurs in SEZs had a positive influence on the social and economic development of the poorest and sometimes less developed poviats in Poland, while the more developed poviats with SEZs did not record better or much better results compared to poviats without SEZs.

Download Full-text

Specjalne strefy ekonomiczne jako stymulator przedsiębiorczości

Przedsiębiorczość - Edukacja ◽

10.24917/20833296.5.20 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 218-227

Author(s):

Paweł Krzemiński

Keyword(s):

Economic Development ◽

Good Reason ◽

Special Economic Zones ◽

High Unemployment ◽

Entrepreneurship Development ◽

The Social ◽

Social And Economic Development ◽

The Creation ◽

Economic Zones ◽

Stimulation Of

One of the ways to stimulate the social and economic development is the stimulation of entrepreneurship by the creation of appropriate conditions for the activity of the enterprises.There are good reason why sometimes entrepreneurship is called the fourth factor of production,alongside with the labor, land and capital. Creation the special economic zones (SEZs) in theweakly developed or affected by problem of high unemployment areas is one of the solutionsthat facilitate doing a business. SEZs were created not only to attract the investments fromoutside, but also to stimulate the local entrepreneurship.This study should clarify the inﬂuence of SEZs on the entrepreneurship development.According to the presumptions the lands belonging to the special economic zones have bettereconomic indicators than adjacent areas. The analysis can answer the question: What is theinﬂuence of tax reliefs and other preferences used in the SEZs on the entrepreneurship development?

Download Full-text

The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones

The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Hubs and Economic Development ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198850434.013.11 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 189-205

Author(s):

Patrick Neveling

Keyword(s):

Economic Development ◽

World War Ii ◽

World Order ◽

Development Planning ◽

Special Economic Zones ◽

Republic Of China ◽

The Social ◽

Development Policies ◽

The Cold War ◽

Economic Zones

This chapter describes and analyses economic development planning in special economic zones (SEZs) since the end of World War II. The focus is on changing ideas about zone set-ups and the industrial ventures targeted for relocations to the zones. Using material from several years of global ethnographic and archival research in dozens of zones and national and international archives, the chapter reviews SEZ set-ups from the world’s first SEZ in late 1940s Puerto Rico via the Shannon Zone in Ireland in late 1950s and 1960s Asian SEZs to the 1970s’ consolidation of the concept that culminated in the opening of the first zones in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The changing geopolitical economy from the Cold War to the neoliberal world order, related changes in economic development policies, and the social and economic realities of super-exploitative and sexist labour regimes in SEZs are the main variables considered in the analysis.

Download Full-text