A comparative analysis of Poland's special economic zones administrations

Paper presented at the International Panel Data Conference, Vilnius, Lithuania, 4-5 July, 2019

The Polish SEZ policy concerns one of the largest scale public policy intervention designs in a transition and employment context. Especially the sudden growth in the reach and impact of the policy from being supply- to demand-led (from 2008 onwards) makes it very interesting to study. There are few other similar demand-led schemes that have been implemented so far.

Compared for example to similar public intervention policies in France and the US, this social experiment has barely been studied and evaluated in the international literature and by 'outsider' researchers or international teams of researchers.

The tax policy competition aspect of SEZs has barely been studied at all in the literature, neither in a national/unitary or federalist state perspective nor in the EU perspective.

UNCTAD reports in the WIR 2019 the widespread popularity of the policy - e.g. there are now more than 5,400 SEZs in the world and we know very little about their implications for public policy!

Exhaustive analysis at ZMC level - the following stand out as the exception: Walbrzych (positive), Legnica (positive), Lodz (Positive), Krakow (negative).

Main finding: most ZMCs attract and grow firms on intensive margin, but have negative impact on extensive margin.

This is more true for ZMCs that stand out with negative deviation and (often) less true for those that stand out with positive deviation.

Recommendations for public policy: implications for growing of margins of firms may be important for the long run viability of this type of intervention.

The zones are now de facto a 'third' factor in the regional administration of Poland!!

https://www.paih.gov.pl/why_poland/Polish_Investment_Zone