The Political Economy of China’’s Economic Zones

In 1979 China launched a new international economic policy with the establishment of four Special Economic Zones (SEZs): Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Shantou in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province. Modelled loosely on export processing zones and free trade zones found in other less developed countries, the SEZs offer a variety of financial inducements to foreign investors in order to harness international business for national economic advantage. Designed to be a cornerstone of China’s economic reforms, by 1985 the SEZs (in the mid-80s zone-like policies were extended to fourteen coastal cities) were scandal-ridden and fraught with serious problems. This work, the first book-length analysis in English of China’s SEZs, examines the problems and promise of this innovative approach to ＂structural economic reform＂ and the comparative significance of the SEZs.

A graduate of the State University of New York at Purchase, George T. Crane received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of numerous articles on the political economy of China and Taiwan and is the editor of the forthcoming The Theoretical Evolution of International Political Economy. Professor Crane has taught at Georgetown University and Nanjing University and is now an assistant professor of political science at Williams College.