Open SEZ: Special Economic Zones & Cities - 新乡市城

 By George ELIOT The hubs of economic activity in almost all countries are the capital city and/or the biggest metropolitan areas. Real estate prices in those territories tend to be higher than in the rest of the country. On the other hand, border areas tend to be neglected as borders create barriers to transport and trade and function as an "event horizon" for the legal framework of the country. So the prices of land and other real estate tend to be lower near the border. However, if two countries created an interconnected set of two special economic zones (SEZ) along their shared border, with the SEZ on one side of the border being the mirror image of the SEZ on the other side, could the barriers to transport, trade and investment between the two SEZ be lower than between the countries overall? And could the newly created hub of economic activity benefit from the initially lower real estate prices to attract investment in both property development and industry/services? Cou...

By George ELIOT  Shopping malls in a city and the Special Economics Zones (SEZ) in a country are two sides of the same coin: Shopping malls are seen as attractive for both businesses and customers because of a range of factors: A) Malls are bustling hubs of economic activity, as agglomeration effects draw in both tenants and customers in large numbers. This helps ensure that a buyer can find what they are looking for. B) Being centrally-managed, malls provide favourable and consistent conditions for doing business (as opposed to chaotic market places, high streets with variable quality of shops and service, and seasonal fairs). C) Shopping malls are safe spaces, which is particularly attractive in countries with high crime rates. SEZ have a similar set of advantages that make them attractive locations for doing business at national level and internationally: A) SEZ are bustling hubs of economic activity as their size creates agglomeration effects that draw in both companies and wor...

By George ELIOT  The continent of Africa (30.4 million sq km) is three times bigger than Europe (10.2 million sq km). However, the coastline of Africa (30,500 km) is more than twice shorter than that of Europe (68,000 km). Africa is a geologically old continent with few bays, gulfs and inlets and its smooth shoreline does not create natural harbours. Tim Marshall identifies the shallow shores as a natural drawback for developing cargo ports in Africa in his book " Prisoners of Geography ".  However, the sea shore around Shanghai and Dubai is shallow as well; yet this has not prevented Shanghai from becoming the biggest container port in the world (47 million TEU in 2021), while Dubai was the 11th biggest (with 13.7 million TEU for 2021).  There is a saying in Chinese: 分久必合 (fēn jiǔ bì hé: a period of unity follows after a period of disunity ). In the case of Africa, a wave of port construction is coming after a long period of lack of adequate infrastructure. This wave is ...