Free Trade Zone Research Articles

Impact of Free Trade (Pilot) Zone Establishment on Urban Land Use Efficiency—Empirical Evidence from Cities in China

The establishment of the Free Trade (Pilot) Zone (FTZ) is a new attempt by China to embark on modern sustainable urban planning and governmental territorial management at the development stage of a high-quality economy. As urban lands serve as the limited resource foundation for civic production and livelihoods, enhancing land use efficiency becomes a key measure to facilitate metropolitan economies of high quality. Utilizing panel data from prefecture-level cities spanning from 2005 to 2021, this study constructs a multi-period difference-in-differences model to explore the impact of FTZs on urban land use efficiency (ULUE). The results indicate that FTZs can significantly enhance urban land use efficiency, with a more pronounced policy effect observed in central cities, inland cities, and cities with higher urbanization rates. Furthermore, the FTZs also demonstrate spatial spillover effects on urban land use efficiency. This study holds great significance for relevant government departments in formulating policies to optimize land resource allocation, promote FTZ development, and foster high-quality urban planning and territorial management.

Implementation of Free Trade Zone Licensing Services through the Indonesia Batam Online Single Submission (IBOSS) System in Batam City

Implementation of Free Trade Zone Licensing Services through the Indonesia Batam Online Single Submission (IBOSS) System in Batam City

Pilot free trade zones and low-carbon innovation: Evidence from listed companies in China

The impact of pilot free trade zones (PFTZs) on companies' low-carbon innovation is not yet studied. In response, this paper considers the establishment of PFTZs as a quasi-natural experiment, using panel data on China's A-share industrial listed companies for the period 2010–2021 and utilizing the entropy balancing difference-in-differences (EB-DID) model to examine PFTZs' impact on companies' low-carbon innovation. The results show that: (1) PFTZs significantly promote companies' low-carbon innovation in pilot cities through the “promoting R&D effect” and the “environmental governance effect”; (2) Foreign capital positively moderates PFTZs' impact on companies' low-carbon innovation; (3) PFTZs' policy effect is characterized by spatial heterogeneity. The paper thus suggests that the government should improve the construction plans of PFTZs to ensure alignment with low-carbon development goals. Moreover, the government should also provide appropriate subsidies for low-carbon technology R&D to encourage innovation, implement advanced institutional systems to facilitate local companies' low-carbon transition, attract high-quality foreign investments to drive the inflow of innovation elements, and optimize the geographical distribution of PFTZs to maximize the spatial spillover effect.

Comparative analysis of the economic effects of special economic zones in China and Korea: evidence from a PSM difference-in-difference method

ABSTRACT This paper examines the economic effects of the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on the export of industrial complexes in China and Korea, focusing on the synergistic economic effects between different types of SEZs, using the Propensity Score Matching difference-in-difference method. We use panel data of 284 Chinese cities and 162 Korean cities between 2000 and 2019, focusing on 93 industrial complexes in China, and 569 industrial complexes in Korea. We compare the effects of Free Trade Zones (FTZs) with other special economic zones, including Bonded Areas (BA) in China and Free Economic Zones (FEZ) and Foreign Investment Regions (FIZ) in Korea. The establishment of SEZs has a significant positive impact on the export growth of industrial complexes in both China and Korea. In Korea, a significant synergy effect on export is found between the FTZ and the FIZs. There is no synergy effect found between FEZs and other economic zones. After the implementation of the FTZ policy in China, the export of BA’s industrial complexes with ports and airports significantly increased, indicating that the FTZs have a positive synergy effect on the BAs with convenient transportation.

Contribution to Securing BYOD Systems in Financial Authorities and Public Administrations in Free Trade Zones

The growth of digital tools, such as mobile phones, computers, and tablets, and the advent of new information and communication technologies have generated new phenomena in terms of communication capacity and data processing. This phenomenon is called BYOD, which stands for Bring Your Own Device, meaning employees use their own devices to access company resources within the company's IT network, whether internally or externally. On the one hand, it has brought many benefits and opportunities, but on the other hand, it carries many cybersecurity risks. Incidents of cybercrime, embezzlement, espionage, and cyberattacks. These are recorded every day in ZELECAF countries in general and in Congo Brazzaville in particular. In this article, a contribution and optimization to the security of BYOD systems in the financial authorities of the countries of the African Continental Free Trade Area are presented. Congo Brazzaville was chosen for the field study, and a few Central African countries were chosen for an online study. The results obtained are encouraging to the extent that the survey carried out revealed the use of digital tools in financial management by workers. Also, the lack of solid security in the existing computer networks within these structures was noted. The principles of raising public awareness of cybersecurity culture, protecting information, authenticating passwords by the IT manager or network administrator, hiding the wireless network, and enabling the firewall are part of the attempted solutions proposed. Compared to studies in the literature, the methodology is adapted, so that in the literature [14], [15], the majority of surveys were carried out in the field, with a very limited number.

Can Pilot Free Trade Zones Promote Sustainable Growth in Urban Innovation?

China’s pilot free trade zones play an important role in promoting deep-level reform and high-standard opening up. Based on the panel data of 284 prefecture-level cities in China from 2009 to 2021, the article explores the impact of pilot free trade zones on urban innovation using the multi-period difference-in-differences model, mediation effect model, and spatial difference-in-differences model, treating the pilot free trade zone as a quasi-natural experiment. The study shows the following: the establishment of pilot free trade zones boosts sustained growth in urban innovation, and the results still hold after a series of robustness tests; the enabling effect of pilot free trade zones on urban innovation is most significant in eastern regions and large-scale cities; and the role of pilot free trade zones in promoting innovation varies by stage. The mediation impact study revealed that pilot free trade zones can influence urban innovation via talent concentration, foreign direct investment, market scale, and financial support. The pilot free trade zones enhance the innovation performance of its geographically adjacent cities with economic ties and the innovation level of the region. The analysis offers a policy basis for the sustainable growth of urban innovation.

The Impact of Free Trade Zones Establishment on Urban Environmental Pollution: Evidence from China

The Impact of Free Trade Zones Establishment on Urban Environmental Pollution: Evidence from China

Comparative Analysis of Shandong Free Trade Zone and Liaoning Free Trade Zone

Free trade zone is a trade-oriented reform based on its functions and positioning by regional characteristics. To build free trade zones, China began to promote the reform of free trade zones, and since then various free trade zones have been established in succession. This paper is based on the effectiveness of the Liaoning Provincial Free Trade Zone and Shandong Provincial Free Trade Zone, from the three aspects of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership’s national trade initiatives, cross-border funds facilitation of financial policies, and the East and West Avenue Golden Hub. According to analyzing and comparing the policy initiatives and the case effectiveness of the free trade zones in the two provinces which have similar target positioning and concerning the problems in the above three aspects, it is important to give three suggestions as follows. First, put forward a proposal to solve the problem of foreign investment enterprise. Second, expanding the trade scope of the Belt and Road. Third, opening up cross-border funds. And last, there are also some corresponding prospects about the above three problems.

Free trade zone policies and green development: an empirical examination based on China’s free trade zone cities

Free trade zone policies and green development: an empirical examination based on China’s free trade zone cities

Developing China's Approaches to Regulate Cross-border Data Transfer:Relaxation and Integration

This article illustrates the developing Chinese cross-border data flow regulation regime deriving from a holistic national security conception to its balance with personal information protection and digital economic development. Under the pressuring demand of digital economy development and an increasing appeal to global data governance, China is progressively improving and modifying its original government-led and restrictive cross-border data regulations. Subsequent practices and the publication of the Provisions on Promoting and Regulating Cross-border Data Transfer (PPR) in March 2024 deliver a clear sign of relaxation on restrictions on cross-border data flow, especially on the subject of personal information outbound transfer. Detailed comparison with data provisions in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) demonstrates that global governance of cross-border data flows is unshaped but not unrealistic, even with current fragmented national approaches. China has established a complete personal information protection legal regime and is very close to integrating into transnational cooperation for a broader framework. In addition, by coordinating national provisions regarding cross-data transfer with international rules and piloting lenient cross-border data supervision mechanisms in numerous Pilot Free Trade Zone (PFTZ), China is ready to evolve its cross-border data flow regulations and contribute to global data governance step-by-step.

Impact of the Free Trade Zone policy on firm labour investment efficiency: evidence from China

ABSTRACT This study employs the staggered difference-in-differences (DID) method to examine the impact of the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) policy on firm labour investment efficiency. Utilizing data from Chinese A-listed companies between 2011 and 2021, we find a significant improvement in labour investment efficiency (LIE) attributable to FTZ. The underlying mechanism involves FTZ optimizing the business environment, reducing transaction costs and adjusting the composition of human capital. Moreover, the positive effects are more pronounced in labour-intensive and non-state-owned companies. FTZ restrains over-hiring and alleviates under-hiring, thereby enhancing LIE. The findings offer valuable insights for enhancing labour allocation through thoughtfully crafted public policies.

Review of Frontier Research on Economic Effects of Pilot Free Trade Zones

Review of Frontier Research on Economic Effects of Pilot Free Trade Zones

Challenges and Countermeasures in Carrying out International Commercial Friendly Arbitration in China’s Free Trade Zones

Challenges and Countermeasures in Carrying out International Commercial Friendly Arbitration in China’s Free Trade Zones

Improve energy use efficiency through free trade policy: evidence from the establishment of free trade zones in China.

In the context of increasing global resource and environmental problems, it is of great practical significance to accurately test the impact of various factors on energy use efficiency for maintaining national energy security and formulating relevant policies. This paper measures firms' total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) using the two-stage stochastic frontier method within the data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework, leveraging data from listed firms in China spanning 2010 to 2022. Employing the establishment of free trade zones (FTZs) as a quasi-natural experiment, we apply the staggered differences-in-differences (DID) and stacked DID methods and analyze the impact of FTZs on firms' TFEE. The results show that the establishment of FTZs significantly promotes the improvement of firms' TFEE, and it has a greater promotion effect on heavily polluting, non-manufacturing, state-owned, private, and small-scale firms. The results of the mechanistic analysis showed that the promotion effect of FTZs on firms' TFEE is mainly realized through three channels: increasing government subsidies, reducing the financing constraint effect, and encouraging the technology innovation effect. Furthermore, industry-level decomposition results indicate that the surge in industry energy efficiency primarily results from improvements within firms rather than inter-industry variations. This paper's results propose that countries can enhance energy efficiency by progressively endorsing the implementation of FTZs.

Genesis of economic integration of Ukraine into the EU

The paper examines the genesis of economic integration of Ukraine to the EU. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the genesis of economic integration of Ukraine to the EU and develop recommendations for their development. The result of bilateral trade integration following the implementation of the consolidated and all-inclusive free trade zone was the modernization of Ukraine's trade policy. The primary dominants may include: the increase in trade turnover between the countries and the increase in the share of European countries in the structure of foreign trade of Ukraine; changes in import duties; improved access to the market; harmonization of legislation; establishment of tariff quotas; а further reduction in non-tariff barriers to trade; home ownership of the region is one hundred percent improved robotic work; harmonization of the technical regulation system; systems of standardization, metrology, conformity assessment and market visibility; sanitary and phytosanitary visits; Strengthening the protection of intellectual rights. The genesis of economic integration of Ukraine to the EU was investigated. An analysis of the Vikonanny Ugodi about association for 2022 and 2023 was carried out. We have analyzed the strengths and weaknesses, the emerging opportunities and threats to the integration of Ukraine into the EU. Directly from further scientific research, it is important to look at the most important aspects of the economic integration of Ukraine, since the most important payments will ensure the formation of the revenue side of the budget from further It is re-divided into different socio-economic goals of the state.

Research on the impact of pilot free trade zones on urban green development: A case study based on the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China.

Green development is an important component of China's new development concept. Pilot Free Trade Zones (PFTZs), as "experimental fields" for promoting reform, deepening opening-up, and raising the level of an open economy, are important open areas for China to promote green development. However, existing related research is not extensive. This article takes PFTZs as quasi-natural experiments, with the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as the research area. Based on urban panel data from 2006 to 2020, using multi-period differences-in-differences and spatial differences-in-differences models, it explores the impact effects of PFTZs on urban green development and their potential mechanisms. The research findings indicate: (1) Overall, PFTZs significantly promote urban green development, with variations in impact effects due to different batches and locations of establishment. (2) Mechanism tests show that PFTZs mainly promote urban green development by stimulating technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and reducing government intervention. (3) From the perspective of spatial spillover effects, the establishment of PFTZs not only promotes the green development process in the host cities but also has a promoting effect on the green development of surrounding cities.

Forecasting Freight on Board for Gonggong Export in Batam Using Markov Chain

As an archipelagic country, Indonesia has great potential in the fisheries sector. As a free trade zone, Batam is important in exporting fishery products. One of the fishery export products in Batam City is gonggong snails. It is a favorite seafood item in Riau Islands Province and has high economic value. However, previous studies focused more on the content of gonggong snails and their industrial feasibility; there has been no specific research on the analysis of gonggong snail exports in Batam City, even though gonggong snails are one of Batam City's export products. In this research, we will forecast the freight on board (FoB) value for gonggong exports in Batam City using a discrete-time Markov chain with two states: above and below the moving average. There are several types of moving averages, including simple moving averages and weighted moving averages. An initial analysis will determine the moving averages' type and duration following the Gonggong export FOB data in Batam. The data used is the Gonggong export FoB data for Batam City from January 2020 to November 2023. Based on this data, the transition probability matrix will be calculated based on the number of export transitions below and above the Weighted Moving Average 6 (WMA 6) value. Limiting probability from the Markov chain will be used to predict the long-term FOB value of fishery product exports up to steady-state conditions. It was found that steady-state conditions would be reached after 17 months, with a probability of FOB exports below WMA6 of 55.06% and FOB exports above WMA6 of 44.94%.

Research and application of a novel grey multivariable model in port scale prediction under the impact of Free Trade Zone

Purpose Considering the impact of the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) policy on forecasting the port cargo throughput, this paper constructs a fractional grey multivariate forecasting model to improve the prediction accuracy of port cargo throughput and realize the coordinated development of FTZ policymaking and port construction.Design/methodology/approach Considering the effects of data randomization, this paper proposes a novel self-adaptive grey multivariate prediction model, namely FDCGM(1,N). First, fractional-order accumulative generation operation (AGO) is introduced, which integrates the policy impact effect. Second, the heuristic grey wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm is used to determine the optimal nonlinear parameters. Finally, the novel model is then applied to port scale simulation and forecasting in Tianjin and Fujian where FTZs are situated and compared with three other grey models and two machine learning models.Findings In the Tianjin and Fujian cases, the new model outperforms the other comparison models, with the least mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) values of 6.07% and 4.16% in the simulation phase, and 6.70% and 1.63% in the forecasting phase, respectively. The results of the comparative analysis find that after the constitution of the FTZs, Tianjin’s port cargo throughput has shown a slow growth trend, and Fujian’s port cargo throughput has exhibited rapid growth. Further, the port cargo throughput of Tianjin and Fujian will maintain a growing trend in the next four years.Practical implications The new multivariable grey model can effectively reduce the impact of data randomness on forecasting. Meanwhile, FTZ policy has regional heterogeneity in port development, and the government can take different measures to improve the development of ports.Originality/value Under the background of FTZ policy, the new multivariable model can be used to achieve accurate prediction, which is conducive to determining the direction of port development and planning the port layout.

A Study on the Impact of Free Trade Zones on Regional Service Innovation Capability: Experimental Evidence from Guangdong Province Free Trade Zone

A Study on the Impact of Free Trade Zones on Regional Service Innovation Capability: Experimental Evidence from Guangdong Province Free Trade Zone

Logistics integration between the Manaus Free Trade Zone (ZFM) and Venezuela: evaluation of the modal through the Fuzzy logic for the flow of production in the electronics sector

The Logistics Integration between the Manaus Free Trade Zone (ZFM) and Venezuela regarding the flow of production in the electrical and electronic sector, has specificities in its commercial activity. Competition and the rapid increase in consumption form a more competitive environment, where the ability to meet fluctuating demand in time stands as a central component of competitive advantage. The main objective of this research was: To develop a Fuzzy inference model for the evaluation of the most viable modal for the integration between the Manaus Free Trade Zone (ZFM) and Venezuela in the flow of production in the electronics sector. The Methodological Process was developed in three phases: 1. Identification of the indicators for the Evaluation of Available Modals; 2. Fuzzy "Inference" System Modeling; 3. Experiment of the Proposed Model, with its respective stages: Phase 1 (definition of the inference levels of the indicators), Phase 2 (Development of Fuzzy Sets, Development of the "Inference" and Simulation Rules in the MatlabR2013 software), Phase 3 (Compilation of the Indicator Aggregation Algorithm, Simulation of the Results in 3D and Analysis of the Results Obtained). Based on the observed data from the 3D results, in figure 16, a detailed analysis of the behavior of the variables was allowed. The results obtained with the proposed model were satisfactory in the analysis of the performance classifications of the modes, it was possible to identify the most relevant variables for the flow of the production of the electrical and electronic sector between the Manaus Free Trade Zone and the Venezuela.