The Governance Gauge: SEZs in Africa

We hope you enjoy this Wednesday’s Governance Gauge: for more reading material, you can always visit our reading list for more on governance, special economic zones, best practices and studies!

A World Bank group paper which primarily works to compare the best practices found in successful China SEZs, comparing them to zones in Africa — this is today’s subject, and anybody in the governance industry would be amiss if they didn’t read this fundamental piece.

8 chapters in the book are the primary part of the read, and additional sourcing is (as is often the case with WBG works) thorough and well-founded. The work was published in 2011, and much of the data in the book maintains its sheen.

The chapters are as follows: Introduction, SEZ History, African SEZ outcomes, SEZ success metrics, African SEZ investment climate, policy strategy, followed by practices and finishing up with a how-to for implementation.

Creators of zones and societies will note that chapters 6, 7 and 8 are very implementation-oriented, and every normative piece of advice in the work is given thorough argumentative and statistical backing for best practices.

Policymakers and analysts should primarily focus on chapters 2, 3 and 5 — the creation and maintenance of an attractive investment climate is well-explained, and plenty of insight is given on the government side of things.

Scholars and experts can rely on the thorough and high-quality data in this work, as well as some of the more interesting statistical models. Chapters 1, 3 and 8 are exquisite in their sourcing and explanations.

The full .pdf can be acquired here.