Was Professor Romer's View of the Charter City Too Rosy?: a Critical Review of Charter City Development in Honduras

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국경제통상학회
· 수록지 정보 : 경제연구 / 39권 / 1호 / 3 ~ 29페이지
· 저자명 : 아레발로이사벨라, 이재우

초록

As a practitioner of economic thinking, Romer (2009) suggested a creative idea which is to build up new, startup-like charter cities in developing countries and make them revolutionary, reform zones, or experimental zones. One basic premise of his model is to designate a big empty land as a CC where foreign rules govern like Hong Kong under British rule in China and allow people to voluntarily move in the CC. The CC itself can be a credible commitment through which a nation can resolve the problem of distrust in government and the rule of law. By creating extraterritorial zones like CC, the host country can free itself from the lack of trust and attract foreign capital. Despite its economic promises, however, the CC turned out to be extremely difficult to implement as a policy for many reasons. In studying the CC model Honduras pursued, ‘institutional’ thinking gives a lot of insights on the efficacy of formal rules of the CC. First. Foreign rules cannot be easily ‘transplanted’ across borders. Institutions are ‘sticky’. Informal norms are crucial in implementing formal policies such as SEZ development. When people’s beliefs, cultures, and norms do not support formal rules, change in formal rules is not so effective. Honduras amended its constitution to give a formal standing to the CC, but Honduran society was not ready to accept what they thought as such ‘neo-liberal’ or ‘utopian enclave’ policies. Second, in Honduras where fundamental rights such as property rights and public safety are not secured, it is unlikely that the right to migrate or ‘vote with foot’, which is the core element of the CC, will be protected. The CC's success is less likely in this nation. Third, to make the matter worse, the Honduran government was not credible at all. In the process of CC policy unfolding, the Honduran government failed to commit the promise ‘to be transparent’ to Romer, the icon of the CC project, and exposed a high level of government risk to the outside world. Fourth, foreign rules and jurisdiction of the CC might lead to the gradual erosion of national sovereignty. The CC as an extraterritorial zone was criticized for the re-emergence of a ‘colonial city’ in Honduras in the past. In the end, CC policy was doomed to face the great opposition and resistance of the general public and stakeholders in Honduras This is why the once hopeful policy became aborted early even before it blossomed. Professor Romer's CC policy looks great in theory, but it looks very unreal in practice. It is more so when it is taken in nations where fundamental rule of law such as property rights and public safety is weak and the government is not trusted.

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