More like Shenzhen than a gated community. Thirty years ago Shenzhen was a fishing village of 3,000 people. It was chosen as the site of the first Special Economic Zone in China, based on Ireland's successful experiment in Shannon. Today Shenzhen is one of the richest, most populous cities in China. Millions of people have been directly lifted out of poverty by Shenzhen's success and millions more indirectly because its success made arguing for similar policies elsewhere in China easier. Whoever put their career on the line to propose the SEZ may have done more good for more people than the entire post WW2 aid industry has.

Not true! Many in the charter-cities movement got into it as a way to help poor people in the third world who cannot emigrate to first-world countries. The movement was largely the result of an analysis of third-world poverty that blames third-world governments for not creating "institutions" or "frameworks promoting trust and cooperation" its citizens can use to work their way out of poverty.