Knowledge Problems Associated with Creating Export Zones

Although export processing zones (EPZ) have been a part of India's development strategy since the 1960s, they have not been as successful at promoting exports and job creation as might have been hoped. Most explanations of their shortcomings focus on the poor infrastructure and bureaucratic inefficiencies that typically plague these zones. By focusing on the knowledge problems that government administrators must overcome if they are to design and manage successful EPZs, and highlighting their inevitable difficulties in overcoming these knowledge problems, this paper offers a more fundamental and compelling explanation of the poor performance of Indian EPZs than is traditionally advanced