IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2020-160.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Special economic zones in Southern Africa: white elephants or latent drivers of growth and employment?: The case of Zambia and South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Mwanda Phiri
  • Shimukunku Manchishi

Abstract

The successful use of special economic zones as economic tools for export-led industrial development in East Asia propelled a wave of similar initiatives across Africa. In Southern Africa, Zambia and South Africa instituted special economic zones in their respective legal and institutional frameworks in the 2000s as mechanisms for catalysing industrialization and employment creation by means of domestic and foreign investments.

Suggested Citation

  • Mwanda Phiri & Shimukunku Manchishi, 2020. "Special economic zones in Southern Africa: white elephants or latent drivers of growth and employment?: The case of Zambia and South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-160, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-160
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2020-160.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerald A. Carlino & Satyajit Chatterjee & Robert M. Hunt, 2001. "Knowledge spillovers and the new economy of cities," Working Papers 01-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    2. Ricardo Hausmann & Juan Obach & Miguel Angel Santos, 2016. "Special Economic Zones in Panama: Technology Spillovers from a Labor Market Perspective," CID Working Papers 326, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    3. Wang, Jin, 2013. "The economic impact of Special Economic Zones: Evidence from Chinese municipalities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 133-147.
    4. Carol Newman & John Page, 2017. "Industrial clusters: The case for Special Economic Zones in Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 015, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Carol Newman & John Page, 2017. "Industrial clusters: The case for Special Economic Zones in Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-15, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Henderson, J. Vernon, 2005. "Urbanization and Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 24, pages 1543-1591, Elsevier.
    7. Aggarwal, Aradhna, 2010. "Economic impacts of SEZs: Theoretical approaches and analysis of newly notified SEZs in India," MPRA Paper 20902, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Gerald A. Carlino, 2001. "Knowledge spillovers: cities' role in the new economy," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Q4, pages 17-26.
    9. Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), 2005. "Handbook of Economic Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    10. Farole, Thomas & Moberg, Lotta, 2014. "It worked in China, so why not in Africa? The political economy challenge of Special Economic Zones," WIDER Working Paper Series 152, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Xavier Cirera & Qursum Qasim, 2014. "Supporting Growth-Oriented Women Entrepreneurs," World Bank Publications - Reports 23654, The World Bank Group.
    12. Edward M. Graham, 2004. "Do export processing zones attract FDI and its benefits," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 87-103, March.
    13. J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), 2004. "Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aguirre Unceta, Rafael, 2021. "The economic and social impact of mining-resources exploitation in Zambia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Grace Nsomba & Thando Vilakazi, 2021. "Barriers to entry and the role of African multinational corporations: Entrants in intermediate industrial products (inputs into construction)," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-143, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Neva Makgetla, 2021. "Learning from experience: Special Economic Zones in Southern Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-124, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. World Bank Group, 2017. "Special Economic Zones," World Bank Publications - Reports 29054, The World Bank Group.
    2. Abagna, Matthew Amalitinga, 2023. "Special Economic Zones and Local Economic Activities in Ethiopia," MPRA Paper 117427, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Sabyasachi Tripathi, 2013. "Do Large Agglomerations Lead To Economic Growth? Evidence From Urban India," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 176-200, November.
    4. Castells-Quintana, David, 2017. "Malthus living in a slum: Urban concentration, infrastructure and economic growth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 158-173.
    5. Sina Hardaker, 2020. "Embedded Enclaves? Initial Implications of Development of Special Economic Zones in Myanmar," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(2), pages 404-430, April.
    6. Shi, Buchao & Huang, Liangxiong & Wei, Shengmin & Geng, Xinyue, 2022. "Overseas industrial parks and China's outward foreign direct investment," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Altenburg, Tilman & Chen, Xiao & Lütkenhorst, Wilfried & Staritz, Cornelia & Whitfield, Lindsay, 2020. "Exporting out of China or out of Africa? Automation versus relocation in the global clothing industry," IDOS Discussion Papers 1/2020, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    8. Athukorala, Prema-chandra & Narayanan, Suresh, 2018. "Economic corridors and regional development: The Malaysian experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 1-14.
    9. Kopczewska Katarzyna, 2019. "Can public intervention improve local public sector economic performance? The analysis of Special Economic Zones in Poland," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 6(53), pages 221-245, January.
    10. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2014. "The Growth of Cities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 5, pages 781-853, Elsevier.
    11. Peter Mayerhofer & Oliver Fritz & Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2010. "Dritter Bericht zur internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit Wiens," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 42430.
    12. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    13. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Grossmann, Volker & Kohler, Wilhelm, 2012. "Migration, International Trade and Capital Formation: Cause or Effect?," IZA Discussion Papers 6975, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Delgado, Mercedes & Porter, Michael E. & Stern, Scott, 2014. "Clusters, convergence, and economic performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(10), pages 1785-1799.
    15. Guido Cozzi & Silvia Galli, 2014. "Sequential R&D and blocking patents in the dynamics of growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 183-219, June.
    16. Guilherme Resende & Alexandre Carvalho & Patrícia Sakowski & Túlio Cravo, 2016. "Evaluating multiple spatial dimensions of economic growth in Brazil using spatial panel data models," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(1), pages 1-31, January.
    17. Alexis Habiyaremye, 2020. "Fast tracking the SADC integration agenda to unlock regional collaboration gains along growth corridors in Southern Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-95, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. Anthony J. Venables, 2006. "Shifts in economic geography and their causes," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, vol. 91(Q IV), pages 61-85.
    19. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2023. "Urban Growth and Its Aggregate Implications," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(6), pages 2219-2259, November.
    20. Laura Casi & Laura Resmini, 2017. "Foreign direct investment and growth: Can different regional identities shape the returns to foreign capital investments?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(8), pages 1483-1508, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Special Economic Zones; Agglomeration; Industrialization; Job creation;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-160. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.