Rampant violation of basic legal frameworks protecting labor rights in the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) is something not unheard of. The governments however, turn a deaf ear towards such violation and hardly use their authority to intervene, in exchange for providing the investors a tax free and...

Special economic zones (SEZs) have been touted as “tools for development”, and yet their results have often been disappointing. We explain how SEZs can be used to reform a country from a system dominated by rent-seeking to a liberalized economy, where officials derive their revenues from...

In the last decade, dozens of local governments have enacted zoning ordinances designed to limit the concentration of payday lenders and other alternative financial services providers (AFSPs), such as check-cashing businesses and auto title loan shops, in their communities. The main impetus for...

Much of the debate on industrialization and displacement has, so far, focused on the optimum compensation for affected households. Our recently concluded study, comprising of a sample of 1017 households including 630 affected (displaced and land acquired) and 387 unaffected households, looks at...

This paper is a first attempt to apply a robust political economy framework to explain when Special Economic Zones (SEZs) can contribute to economic development. A robust political economy is one that channels the actions of self-interested individuals with limited information to promote...

In this paper the authors undertake an ex-post evaluation of whether the special economic zones (SEZs) introduced in Poland in 1994 have been successful in meeting regional development objectives. They evaluate the policy of as many of its objectives as possible: employment creation, business...

After fife month the special economic zone Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) in North Korea was reopened again on 16 September 2013. By this way, it is the last remaining centrepiece of North-South economic cooperation on the Korean peninsula. Established during the period of "Sunshine policy"...