We analyse the economic impacts of place-based policies that aim to enhance economic development by stimulating growth and productivity of firms in designated areas. We use unique panel data from China with information on manufacturing firms’ production factors, productivity and location, and...

Using the mass closure of development zones in 2004 as a natural experiment, we examine the causal effect of development zones on firm level TFP in China. The difference-in-difference estimator shows that on average, loss of development zone policies results in 6.5% loss of firms' TFP....

Exploiting two geo-coded firm censuses, this paper examines the impact of China's Special Economic Zones on economic activity in the targeted areas. We find that economic zones have a positive effect on employment, output and capital, and increase the number of firms. We also find that firm...