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The paper aims to investigate the effects of several determinants of firm import intensity in US foreign trade zones (FTZs). Even though the major objective for the establishment of US FTZs is to encourage exports by facilitating the duty-free entry of imports, US firms have used it as a gateway to import goods into the US market. Currently, over 90 per cent of US FTZ output is consumed in the USA. The author examines the major determinants for such import intensity in US FTZs.

The study is based on a survey that was conducted to explore the factors that influence import intensity of firms operating in US FTZs.

The findings reveal that besides export orientation of firms, the most promising predictors of import intensity of firms operating in USA FTZs are the policy environment in the form of inverted tariff benefits and firm business strategy.

The findings are important for managers presently operating in US FTZs or intend to do so in future.

Even though there are numerous studies on free trade zones and exports, this is the first study to examine the import intensity of US FTZs and their determinants.

In 2008, a bill was introduced in the 110th Congress (HR6415) to address the “unintended consequences” of US free trade agreements (US FTA) on manufacturers operating in US foreign trade zones (FTZs). Presently, US manufacturers operating in FTZs that use imported components pay a tariff (on finished goods entering the US market), which is not paid by their competitors in countries that have free trade agreements (FTAs) with the USA. The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of a legislative proposal to address this issue (the bill is still under consideration and not yet been passed by Congress) for domestic firms and the overall economy.

The paper is largely based on the analysis of the legislative proposal (HR6415), and US trade data obtained from the United Nations.

The paper shows that the trade agreement parity (TAP) proposal may have the undesirable effect of encouraging local firms (in US FTZs) to use foreign components and increasing the trade deficit. It also shows that the proposal, by facilitating the entry of more foreign imports undermines the original purpose for which FTZs were designed.

There are no papers examining the implications of this Congressional bill on domestic competition and the overall US economy. This paper and its recommendations will help US policymakers to re‐evaluate the existing proposal and also revisit the role of FTZs in the US economy.

The establishment of free trade zones (FTZs) is an important experiment as part of the reform and opening up policy. This paper aims to focus on the issue of production efficiency of environmental protection enterprises in FTZs. Changes in the external and internal environments of enterprises can easily lead to changes in the production efficiencies of enterprises. The establishment of FTZs can change the external environment of enterprises. Knowledge accumulation changes the internal environment of enterprises. However, traditional efficiency analysis has usually ignored the internal and external heterogeneity of decision-making units, resulting in the distortion of the evaluation results.

This paper examines the relationship between knowledge accumulation and development potential based on financial data of environmental protection enterprises that were listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen A stocks, from 2009 to 2016. Then, through data envelopment analysis cross-efficiency analysis of the listed environmental protection enterprises from external heterogeneity, BP neural network model is set up.

The results show that the model set up in this paper is stable and reliable. The paper makes policy suggestions such as stimulating trade inside industry, quickening technological progress and enhancing environmental protection.

This paper analyzes the economy, environmental protection, science and technology and education to simulate the external environment of enterprises. Based on the experience data from the completion of Shanghai FTZ, this paper predicts the future development potential of Hainan FTZ enterprises.

What are the social and ecological roots of export diversification in the developing world? On the one hand, I attribute the growth of nontraditional, manufactured exports from the Dominican Republic to the traditional agro-export elite's use of free trade zones to offset the consequences of urban biased, import-substituting industrialization in the 1970s, and thereby portray diversification as an incremental response to government predation rather than a coherent product of government planning. On the other hand, I hold that the nature, timing, and location of the nontraditional export supply response have necessarily been circumscribed by preexisting social and ecological circumstances, and thereby underscore the structural impediments to similar diversification efforts elsewhere in the developing world. My findings are of both theoretical relevance and policy import, for they serve to underscore the limitations to the regnant neoliberal development orthodoxy as well as the available sociological alternatives.

This paper is submitted for a special issue of Asian Education and Development Studies on the topic of Greater China Development. The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and opportunities of developing a free trade zone (FTZ)/free port in China’s Hainan island.

Hainan is to be Mainland China’s newest and largest FTZ. However, the experience of the existing Mainland FTZs is not encouraging, their limited, piecemeal reforms attracting little interest from foreign investors. To make a difference and provide a new engine of growth for the Mainland economy, the approach for Hainan needs to be much bolder. Hainan should aim to develop as a free port, a services centre and a financial centre.

Regarding the financial sector development, the opportunity should be taken to experiment with special drawing rights. Hong Kong can provide the exemplar and expertise to jump-start Hainan’s development. To provide critical mass, mutual access should be opened between Hainan and the nine Mainland municipalities of the Greater Bay Area. An inner border will be needed to distinguish the experimental area from the rest of the Mainland, and an outer border to preserve its integrity vis-à-vis the international environment.

If Hainan can be developed into the China Offshore Centre, it would have the potential to restart the Mainland’s stalled reform process, and to relieve international trade and financial tensions.

This article discusses the competitive advantage firms can derive from the wise utilization of foreign trade zones. Recent environmental changes which have necessitated an increasing use of FTZs are discussed, as well as the benefits offered by FTZs as compared to other government tariff incentive programs. Several examples demonstrate the various ways information is given regarding the money required and the time involved in the establishment and use of an FTZ or a subzone.

As determined by the Financial Action Task Force, trade‐based money laundering (TBML) has become one of the three major money laundering methods used today. However, there has been very limited acknowledgment of the risk and counter‐measures against TBML until recently. This is particularly problematic with ever increasing trade volumes through transshipment and container shipping which is getting larger by the day. This paper aims to examine the role of TBML as a vehicle for terrorism financing and laundering proceeds of other criminal activity. It also examines the practice of transshipment, analyzes the challenges that this particular phenomenon poses to detection of TBML activity, and looks at possible alternative policy responses to mitigate additional money laundering risks.

This paper analyzes reports made by international organizations and government bodies, particularly, the US Government, dealing with various aspects of financial crime, import/export activity, and world trade statistics, in order to identify major challenges and possible solutions to the problem. Interviews were also conducted with the same goals.

Efforts to monitor and staunch the flow of illicit money through trade would be enhanced through more widespread coverage of customs cooperation and standardization of information sharing procedures between national customs agencies. Also, measures should be taken to make free trade areas more transparent to regulatory scrutiny.

This paper serves to expand the limited amount of scholarship on TBML and to suggest a policy approach towards detection of this kind of money laundering activity to policymakers.