Deputy director of the China Center for Special Economic Zone Research (CCSEZR) and prof. Yuan Yiming's full paper titled “Three Major Institutional Contributions of the Establishment and Development of China's Special Economic Zones” (published in the Journal of Shenzhen University, Issue 4, 2018 of Humanities and Social Sciences Edition) was reproduced by Xinhua Digest, Issue 21, 2018.
In his paper, Prof. Yuan writes: the special economic zone (SEZ) is a significant contribution that China has made to the world through its 40 years of reform and opening-up, and an integral part of China's plan. Institutional innovation trials and resulting overall economic take-off are two hallmarks that differentiate China's SEZs from other SEZs across the globe in terms of establishment, development and logic of existence. The establishment and development of China's SEZs are fundamentally based on taking the lead in exploring the establishment and improvement of socialist market economic system and the road to economic take-off from economic backwardness and the transformation of the model from economic growth to economic development.
The paper suggests that China's SEZs have made three major contributions to the model of SEZs worldwide: effective institutional supply beyond the introduction of foreign capital, dynamic optimization model beyond "still model", and endogenous institutional supply beyond the exogenous system.
The paper believes that Shenzhen should make new contributions in the new era of reform and opening-up. On the institutional innovation front, Shenzhen in the new era needs to explore: how to improve socialist market economy system with Chinese characteristics; how institutional innovation will shift from institutional imitation to independent institutional innovation; the transformation path to comprehensive economic development from economic growth.
