Zones franches dans les économies en voie de développement : quelle industrialisation ?

Free zones, as they have benne spreading in the Third World since the mid-1960's, intend to attract foreign direct investment in order to develop manufactured exports. They are the limit of outward-looking policies. Basing on different samples, this paper examines striking economic characteristics of these areas : concentration of activity on few products, instability of earnings, limited technology transfer. We conclued that zones failed to generate an industrial structure independent of host country development level.Free zones, as they have benne spreading in the Third World since the mid-1960's, intend to attract foreign direct investment in order to develop manufactured exports. They are the limit of outward-looking policies. Basing on different samples, this paper examines striking economic characteristics of these areas : concentration of activity on few products, instability of earnings, limited technology transfer. We conclued that zones failed to generate an industrial structure independent of host country development level.Dubost Serge. Zones franches dans les économies en voie de développement : quelle industrialisation ?. In: Revue d'économie industrielle, vol. 37, 3e trimestre 1986. pp. 31-39