Second Best? Investment Climate and Performance in Africa’s Special Economic Zones

Farole, Thomas

关键词: ACCOUNTING;    AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS;    BENEFICIARIES;    BOND;    BONDS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5447
RP-ID  :  WPS5447

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

As an instrument of trade and investmentpolicy, special economic zones have played a catalytic rolein processes of industrialization, diversification, andtrade integration in many countries, particularly in EastAsia. However, in the African context, anecdotal evidencesuggests the experience has been disappointing on the whole.Among the reasons why many zones underperform may be thatthey fail to establish a high quality investment environment-- this is, after all, one of the main promises thateconomic zones hold for investors. Drawing on originalsurvey research, this paper presents a systematic analysisof the outcomes and the investment climate of economic zonesprograms in six African countries and four developingcountries outside the region. The analysis finds thatalthough performance across zones is mixed -- with Ghana andLesotho in particular performing well on some measures --African zones programs on the whole are underperforming interms of attracting investment, facilitating exports, andcreating jobs. Economic zones in Africa offer an improvedbusiness environment relative to what is available to firmsbased outside the zones; however, in comparison with thenon-African countries in the survey, both absoluteinvestment climate performance and relative improvementsfall well short.