Ma Shiping, Zhang Wenzhong, Li Xumao

Keywords： Special Regions; Regional Uneven Development; Development Policy; Regional Planning; International Experience

Abstract：

Special region refers to the relatively underperforming area, which is the typical representative of regional uneven development. A series of place-specific policies including regional planning and financial investment have been carried out in special regions by national governments or organizations in the European Union, the United States and Canada. Through the case study, it is found that the international principle of identifying special region is mainly based on economic indicators and supplemented by other indicators. Moreover, investment is the most important mean in the implementation. However, there is still some controversy about the effectiveness of current policy and planning. The regional governance system guided by localism and neoliberalism and regional administrative barriers restrict the implementation of policies, and the main policy tool has obvious limitations. For China, it is helpful to improve the efficiency of regional policy by identifying special regions more accurately referring to international experience. Meanwhile, more effective policy tools should be explored on the basis of giving full play to the superiority of our regional governance system.

Funds：

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