Sustenable Development Of The Romanian Economy By Adopting The Chinese Model Of Special Economic Zones

The architecture of the Chinese economy began to take shape in the late 1980's, because of the new reforms that the Chinese Communist Party started to take. With the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the Chinese leadership is taken by Deng Xiaoping, who stated a blitz course in capitalism. The new president encouraged foreign direct investments by creating special economic zones near the costal cities, were foreign companies obtained several tax brakes and other incentives, only to invest in those regions. With the help of statistical data from WTO, IMF, and the World Bank, the current paper analyzes the impact of these special economic zones on the Chinese economy, raging from mutations in the labor market and economic sectors structure and their evolution in the formation of the GDP, FDI inflows, and last but not least external trade and current account situation. On the other hand, the paper tries to make a connection with Romania, computing and predicting, based on the Chinese figures, the way in which the Romanian economy, by creating four economic zones within the counties of Satu Mare, Bihor, Arad, and Constanţa, will be able to experience the same growth. The first three counties have been piked up based on their proximity to the Schengen area, and/or on their infrastructure, plain terrain, and a qualified and skilled labour force. Constanţa, the only one that resembles with its Chinese counterparts, has been considered because of its capabilities of shipping products right away as they are manufactured. The results would decrease the disparity that exists in revenue levels across Romania, Bucharest leading the group way ahead of the other counties. Foreign direct investments in those areas will attract more others made by the local authorities in the infrastructure (schools, universities, roads, airports, high speed railways). This development will have a direct impact on the current account of the Romania's balance sheet of payments, while its external trade deficit will reduce in time, even transforming in a trade surplus, and helping this way in putting an end to the chronically external debt.