TY - JOUR
T1 - Special Economic Zones and Household Welfare
T2 - New Evidence from Ghana
AU - Ackah, Charles Godred
AU - Osei, Robert Darko
AU - Owusu, Nana Yaw Agyeman
AU - Acheampong, Vera
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - This study evaluates the impact of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on household welfare (per capita consumption expenditure or PCE and poverty) in Ghana using the Ghana Socio-economic Survey Dataset. Propensity Score and augmented inverse probability weighting (AIPW) are used to provide a multi-valued treatment framework to estimate the effect of SEZs on household welfare. The results show that households located within a 20 km radius near of SEZs seem to have higher PCE and reduced poverty compared with households farther away. The results of the PCE effect using different household characteristics provide a strong basis for a deeper understanding of the heterogeneous effect of SEZs on PCE in Ghana. While data limitations prevented the study from fully identifying the direct channels at work, it was able to investigate the indirect channels, suggesting that SEZs in Ghana may induce employment restructuring effects for individuals in paid employment or farming.
AB - This study evaluates the impact of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on household welfare (per capita consumption expenditure or PCE and poverty) in Ghana using the Ghana Socio-economic Survey Dataset. Propensity Score and augmented inverse probability weighting (AIPW) are used to provide a multi-valued treatment framework to estimate the effect of SEZs on household welfare. The results show that households located within a 20 km radius near of SEZs seem to have higher PCE and reduced poverty compared with households farther away. The results of the PCE effect using different household characteristics provide a strong basis for a deeper understanding of the heterogeneous effect of SEZs on PCE in Ghana. While data limitations prevented the study from fully identifying the direct channels at work, it was able to investigate the indirect channels, suggesting that SEZs in Ghana may induce employment restructuring effects for individuals in paid employment or farming.
KW - Ghana
KW - household
KW - poverty
KW - propensity score matching
KW - Special Economic Zones
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85216406991&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13571516.2025.2456251
DO - 10.1080/13571516.2025.2456251
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85216406991
SN - 1357-1516
JO - International Journal of the Economics of Business
JF - International Journal of the Economics of Business
ER -