Creating Institutions within Institutions? Rethinking the Promise of Special Economic Zones in Ghana.

Creating Institutions within Institutions? Rethinking the Promise of Special Economic Zones in Ghana. | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Creating Institutions within Institutions? Rethinking the Promise of Special Economic Zones in Ghana. Nana Yaw Agyeman Owusu, Charles Godfred Ackah, Robert Darko Osei This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7609719/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper examines whether Special Economic Zones (SEZs) create institutional environments distinct from the wider Ghanaian economy. Drawing on firm-level survey data from 325 enterprises, the study applies a quasi-experimental design combining Mahalanobis Distance Matching (MDM) and Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPTW) to estimate average treatment effects on treated firms and the full sample. The analysis evaluates three dimensions of the investment climate: institutional quality, onsite infrastructure and utilities, and offsite infrastructure and factor availability. Results suggest that SEZs provide firms with a somewhat more favourable business climate, most notably in strengthening investment protection. However, improvements in reducing regulatory burdens, corruption, and informal practices are less consistent, while infrastructural advantages, though evident, are not uniformly transformative. The study contributes original evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa, demonstrating the value of examining SEZs as differentiated institutional spaces rather than purely economic enclaves, and highlights their limited yet meaningful role in fostering institutional change. special economic zones institutional approach corruption Ghana Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 07 Oct, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 06 Oct, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 18 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 17 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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