China’s special economic zones are comparable to the United States’ “Opportunity zones” established in the 2017 tax bill. I wrote about how opportunity zones work and their benefits in this publication last September.

Like SEZs, opportunity zones incentivize economic investment in designated areas around the country that otherwise may go underdeveloped. The takeaway is obvious and twofold: We need to be investing in opportunity zones – in Arkansas and across the country – and we need to be doing it now. Congress has given us a tool to bring about dramatic economic change in opportunity zones.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has identified 85 opportunity zones here in Arkansas alone, and there are 9,000 more designated across the country. If our business leaders, local officials and regional stakeholders come together with their visions and proposals, we can take full advantage of the enormous opportunity presented to us by opportunity zones.