Abstract: Taking the samples of the economic and technological development zones as an example, with the data of China’s industrial enterprises from 1998 to 2007, this paper makes use of the Probit model and the difference-in-difference method (DID) to study whether the policy of establishing ETDZs is a preferential choice and its impact on the enterprise performance when the policy is come into effect. The findings show that: (1) the policy of establishing ETDZs is a preferential choice, to establish the development zones in the areas with higher level of industrial development has a larger probability, and such policy can improve the productivity of the local enterprises; (2) as for the enterprises with advantages in their development level and the enterprises with comparative disadvantages, the promotion effect of the policy on the productivity of the advantage enterprises is greater; (3) when the policy is implemented, this kind of comparative advantage will go with the changes of time, showing a tendency of upward first then downward, that is to present a general feature of inverted “V”. The inferior enterprises can bring the latter-development advantage into play with the help of the spillover effect and the learning effect of the policy, so as to gradually realize their catching up with the advantage enterprises.

Key words: economic and technological development zone; comparative advantage; catch-up effect; DID model