https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2193-1619
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ABSTRACT
This article explores the impact of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) on Russian industrial firms’ productivity, using propensity score matching to address heterogeneity issue. Our investigation contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, our study fills a gap in the literature that evaluates the effectiveness of Russian SEZs. Besides, we attempt to solve the problem of self-selection and minimise the impact of unobservable effects by matching similar firms. Moreover, we reveal the role of SEZs in increasing productivity and competitiveness of Russian enterprises considering regional economic development and corruption. We take into account the factors that affect the firms’ performance both at the municipal and regional levels. An ambiguous effect of SEZs on productivity was found, but a positive significant influence of SEZs on productivity was revealed in regions with relatively higher corruption and with relatively lower GRP per capita.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Ministry of the Russian Federation on development of the Far East and Arctic. Territories of Priority Socio-Economic Development. [Министерство РФ по развитию Дальнего Востока и Арктики. Территории опережающего развития.] https://minvr.gov.ru/activity/territorii-operezhayushchego-razvitiya/Accessed: 21.05.24).
2. Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation. SEZs. [Министерство экономики РФ. ОЭЗ.] https://www.economy.gov.ru/material/file/f520270bef16a9915fa777191e4b28a2/sezrus_2024.pdf Accessed: 21.05.24.
3. Official website of the project Special Economic Zones: https://www.economy.gov.ru/material/directions/regionalnoe_razvitie/instrumenty_razvitiya_territoriy/osobye_ekonomicheskie_zony/.
4. World Governance Indicators, The World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators/interactive-data-access. Accessed: 21.05.24.