The Political Logic of Special Economic Zone:The Case of Lipetsk Special Zone in Russia
Special Economic Zones(SEZ)are widely favored policy tools that are often applied by transitional countries to promote economic development,structural adjustment,and institutional reform.From an economic perspective,the main function of SEZ is to attract investment to promote growth;from a political perspective,the role of SEZ is mainly to promote the process of transformation.This article selects the Lipetsk Special Zone,one of the first two industrial production zones established in Russia,as the research object,and uses the Synthetic Control Method to explore the impact of SEZ on the economic development of Lipetsk Oblast.This study found that SEZ have a significant effect on attracting investment,but have no contribution to economic growth,and even have negative effects on consolidating local government capacity.The Lipetsk Special Zone is essentially a policy implemented by the Russian government specifically around the private enterprise of HLMK,exhibiting an abnormal phenomenon of"implementing special zone policies in the form of national strategy to cultivate private enterprises".In fact,the reason why the two unreasonable aspects of"poor performance and satisfaction from all parties"and"national strategic support for private enterprises"are shown is because the economic logic of the Lipetsk Special Zone is subordinate to political logic.In Russia,the establishment of special zones is the result of the tripartite game between the state,local governments and enterprises,and it is an important tool for the federal government to recover state power.Therefore,when transitional countries set up special zones,they need to face the dual tasks of state rebuilding and institutional reform.State rebuilding is a mandatory task,while institutional reform is only an optional task.
Special Economic ZoneEconomic GrowthPolitical TransformationState BuildingRussia
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