E2026011                                                                             2026-05-25 

 Guangbo Huang  Min Wang  Huayu Xu

Abstract
We investigate the impacts of industrial parks on economic growth, living standards, and women’s empowerment in Ethiopia. Exploiting the staggered openings of parks across districts and combining satellite imagery with detailed survey data, we document several key findings. First, the establishment of an industrial park leads to sizable gains in local economic activity and urbanization. However, these effects remain spatially concentrated, with little evidence of spillovers into nearby districts. Second, parks situated in areas with stronger market access, larger labor pools, and better transport connectivity generate substantially larger impacts, underscoring the importance of location fundamentals. Third, the arrival of a park improves local living standards and raises employment rates—particularly among women—reflecting the parks’ predominant focus on female-labor-intensive industries. This shift enhances women’s decisionmaking power and reduces their acceptance of domestic violence, suggesting meaningful progress toward female empowerment.

Keywords: industrial parks, economic growth, living standards, female empowerment, Ethiopia

JEL Codes: O14, O18, J16, J21, D13

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