Special Economic Zones Planning for Sustainable Ports: Aggregate Economic Impact of Port of Gioia Tauro

Special Economic Zones (SEZ) are a place-based measure to boost the economic growth adopted in several countries all-over the world. SEZs are geographic areas inside a country where tax incentives, favourable land-use policies, employment subsidies, and advantageous financial assistance encourage the settlement of domestic and foreign-invested manufacturing and services for export. The paper concerns the ex-ante estimation of aggregate economic impact of a SEZ in Calabria region (Italy). SEZ in Calabria was conceived to operate in several existing industrial areas of the region, having its fulcrum around the transhipment hub port of Gioia Tauro, in order to propagate its benefits to the whole region in terms of export and employment. The aggregate economic impacts of the SEZ were quantified through two characteristic variables: exports and employment of industrial firms settled in Calabria. Two development scenarios are defined: a Do-Nothing scenario, in the absence of the SEZ and with the current economic policies operating in Calabria; and a SEZ scenario, assuming a full activation of SEZ (with complete availability of financial resources and decrees for simplification) at the end of 2018. The comparison of the two scenarios shows relevant direct positive impacts in the SEZ case, both the in terms of export and employment, in the industrial sectors that benefits of the SEZ incentives.