Читать книгу Factors Affecting Firm-Level Investment and Performance in Border Economic Zones and Implications for Developing Cross-Border Economic Zones between the People's Republic of China and its Neighboring GMS Countries - Zanxin Wang - Страница 9

The study covers the PRC, the Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Viet Nam. The major survey areas include Yunnan Province, the major cities on both sides of the borders of the PRC and its neighboring GMS countries, and some major industrial areas in Yunnan Province and neighboring GMS countries.

The effectiveness of incentive policies can be assessed at various levels, including its effects on (i) a firm’s decision to invest; (ii) the volume and quality of investments; and (iii) the macro economy, i.e., whether incentives created distortions in factor prices and markets. The study will focus on the effects of the incentive policies on the firm.

The study has the following significance:

First, the study of the effects of incentive policies on firms’ decisions to invest in SEZs will provide a basis for establishing the economic rationale for FDI incentives and SEZs, especially those at the border areas in the GMS. Establishing the economic rationale for SEZs is particularly important because in the PRC, SEZs were established to perform a special role in FDI promotion when the country opened up its economy. The SEZs function not only as vehicles for expanding exports, but also as laboratories where economic policy experiments are carried out in a geographically restricted area. The SEZs also function as government units, unlike other processing zones in Asia that are run by management boards. Given this particular context in the PRC, the research should be able to yield significant inputs for policy making.

Second, the project is of great strategic value to policy making. The study will identify obstacles to the implementation of incentive policies, and gather firms’ perceptions of existing policies and expectations for new policies. The results will provide a justification for policy improvement or new policy design, as well as for measures to be taken to overcome difficulties that are barriers to the implementation of existing policies.

Third, the study will identify elements of different countries’ policies that are in conflict with each other, if any, and compare the effects of incentive polices in different countries. The results will provide inputs for the promotion of economic cooperation between the PRC and its neighboring GMS countries, in particular, for the development of CBEZs.