I have to agree with you there. I spent some time in China in a EZ, the EZ was huge 120+ sq km, and employed about a half million people.
THe closest I’ve seen in the USA is in NJ, .. taking a blurb from the NJ Urban EZ website:
Administered by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, the UEZ Program supports nearly 150,000 full-time jobs and has attracted more than $24 billion in private investment.
There are almost 7,000 businesses of all sizes and types participating and benefiting from the advantages of the UEZ Program. These include a number of tax and other financial incentives. Since the program’s inception, over 26,000 businesses have enjoyed UEZ Program benefits.
The downside to the targeted “urban” EZ in NJ is the customer base arbitrage steals sales from corporations outside the UEZs.
Irony of ironies: HUD has demarcated the EZ with a red line.