Abstract
There are over 5,000 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the world. About 75 percent
of developing economies and almost all transition economies use SEZs in their early
stages of industrialization. Why have SEZs traveled so far and fast globally? How
does this policy vary when it enters different national contexts? I develop an SEZ
policy adoption framework for developing or transitioning countries. I then apply
the framework to compare how Ethiopia and Vietnam have learned from mainland
China and Taiwan’s SEZ policies. Drawing on field interviews with 53 key stakehold-
ers, I argue that the recent wave of SEZ adoption among late industrializers is
rooted in their desires to catch up, just as China and other Newly Industrialized
Economies (NIEs) did. A coalition between the NIEs’ governments, private investors,
and state-owned companies actively promoting their model become the key policy
ambassadors in the globalization of SEZ while expanding NIE capital to emerging
markets. The localization of SEZs in national contexts, however, is constrained by
their extant institutional settings. My case studies demonstrate the importance of
policy transfer as a driver of SEZ policy and highlight the critical role that emulation
plays in late industrialization.
of developing economies and almost all transition economies use SEZs in their early
stages of industrialization. Why have SEZs traveled so far and fast globally? How
does this policy vary when it enters different national contexts? I develop an SEZ
policy adoption framework for developing or transitioning countries. I then apply
the framework to compare how Ethiopia and Vietnam have learned from mainland
China and Taiwan’s SEZ policies. Drawing on field interviews with 53 key stakehold-
ers, I argue that the recent wave of SEZ adoption among late industrializers is
rooted in their desires to catch up, just as China and other Newly Industrialized
Economies (NIEs) did. A coalition between the NIEs’ governments, private investors,
and state-owned companies actively promoting their model become the key policy
ambassadors in the globalization of SEZ while expanding NIE capital to emerging
markets. The localization of SEZs in national contexts, however, is constrained by
their extant institutional settings. My case studies demonstrate the importance of
policy transfer as a driver of SEZ policy and highlight the critical role that emulation
plays in late industrialization.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1957–1983 |
| Journal | Review of International Political Economy |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2023 |