Special Economic Zones as a Driver of Sustainable Regional Development: Empirical Evidence from Kazakhstan

Special economic zones (SEZs) are widely used to stimulate investment, employment, and industrial growth. Yet their contribution to sustainable regional development remains poorly measured. This is especially true in Kazakhstan, where zone-level assessment is largely absent from regional planning frameworks. This study addresses that gap. We construct a Regional Sustainable Development Index (RSDI) that integrates economic, social, and environmental indicators across nine Kazakhstani regions hosting active SEZs. Economic performance alone gives an incomplete picture. Omitting social and environmental dimensions distorts policy conclusions and masks structural imbalances. Our results reveal sharp differentiation across regions. In the Atyrau region, high investment volumes correspond closely with sustainability gains. This suggests structural coherence between zone operations and broader regional outcomes. The Pavlodar region presents a contrasting case. There, the leading driver of sustainability performance is not investment volume but the reduction of environmental pollution. This finding underscores why disaggregating sustainability components matters—the composite index alone is not sufficient. A comparison against official target indicators identifies both achievements and systematic shortfalls. Investment and employment targets are frequently decoupled: capital attraction does not reliably generate proportional job creation. The social dimension remains the weakest across most zones. Environmental governance shows formal recognition but limited implementation. The RSDI framework offers a practical diagnostic tool for public authorities. It makes imbalances visible before they become entrenched. Beyond Kazakhstan, the index provides a transferable instrument for resource-dependent emerging economies seeking to embed sustainability criteria into SEZ governance and regional planning.