Many are the reasons why governments decide to implement a free trade zone, or a foreign trade zone, in their own countries. The most common one is to boost the economic development of a specific region of the nation. This is achieved by offering incentives to domestic and foreign companies such...

I use the results of a survey on the adoption patterns of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the state of California to begin filling a gap in our understanding of the role and prominence of the broader class of special assessment districts. A BID is formed when a majority of merchants or...

This paper proposes a novel framework identifying sovereign systemic risk zones. We first explore the cross-dynamics of sovereign CDS in terms of time-changing contagion measures based on copulas and then assemble these measures together with country-specific fundamentals through recursive...

This article is aimed at highlighting the success or otherwise of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in India. India mooted the concept of Special Economic Zones in 1965 much before its neighboring country China adopted the same model. A Special Economic Zone is a geographical region that has...

The growing popularity of small civilian drones has generated a wide array of complex and unprecedented regulatory challenges. Many of these challenges, such as that of keeping drones away from manned aircraft, are matters that the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) is clearly...

We estimate the set of panel and spatial panel data models of employment and investments for 379 Polish counties over the period 2003-2012. We take advantage of a unique firm-level dataset for Polish Special Economic Zones (SSEs), which includes about 30,000 observations. We find that SSEs have...

The free trade zone agreement between Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam will come into force starting 5 October 2016. The document, which envisages easing of access to their markets in the framework of mutual trade of member states, will allow to significantly...

The Texas Enterprise Zone Program does not appear to benefit the financial well-being of residents. An examination of the state program suggests that at best, there is a modest positive impact on the repayment of retail loans

This working paper assesses the novel theory posited in a recent IFC study that export processing and special economic zones can serve as vehicle for women's economic empowerment. After analyzing the theory through a labor and women's rights lens, the working paper guardedly concludes that EPZs...

A country whose major source of revenue is an object of free trade zone program raises interest. The concept of Free Trade Zones in Nigeria was embraced as far back as 1992 with the purpose of providing an atmosphere that encourages both local and foreign investments. This paper seeks to examine...