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Comment by jhuckestein | Hacker News Reader

Wow, this is exactly what I always tell people I'd like to do one day!

This is very similar to the German city-states that were set up along the baltic and northern sea some 800 years ago. I recall reading a very interesting article about this in some magazine, maybe I can dig it up. This model is a win-win because the settlers get to make their own very liberal rules (that the host state doesn't necessarily agree with) while the host still reaps some of the benefits of wealth and education coming into the area. Excited to see where this goes.

Edit: Found the article. It's called "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Ending Poverty" in The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-poli...

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Funny, my first thought was of German city-states as well, but not the ones that went well along the baltic.
Catherine the Great invited Germans to settle near the Black Sea when she won the territory from the Ottoman Empire. She gave them land in a similar way to the Oklahoma Land Rush: work it and it's yours. The problem came later when Russia changed its mind about being hands-off.
And that's my concern about this plan too. Honduras today is cooperative, but there is no guarantee it will remain that way. In fact, I'm sure it'll end poorly if poor Hondurans see wealthy "Americans" homesteading next door and not paying any taxes.

One of the terms of this agreement is that any Honduran citizen has right of residency in any of these cities (provided they agree to the cities rules, of course.)
So, I don't think there will be jealousy that aliens are getting a better deal.
Also, if the cities are successful this will increase business opportunities for Honduran businesses.

So, as long as the government of Honduras adheres to libertarian ideals about how to view this, it can't fail!

The Euro experiment about a completely mobile and unhindered workforce is very very unpopular in western Europe (esp. the UK).
The same principal is the enemy of the Honduran policy to allow autonomous zones within the country. Either the agreement to guarantee Hondurans residency within these enclaves will be ignored/suppressed, or there will be clashes if the enclave is successful - people without jobs move to where there are jobs - just so they can eke out a living.
Possibly the end-sum will be like the rich neighborhoods in US ciites which basically use the nearby poor areas as cheap labor pools and crime sinks.

I think that's an unfair characterisation of public opinion of the Euro "experiment". (North America did federated states a while back though, remember?) I mean maybe if you get all your information from the Daily Mail. Definitely got the scare quotes and odd wording going. Yes, there are groups that are opposed to it, although the most vocal all to often are later revealed to be complete bigots, but there are many groups in favour. It helps that even though there are poorer and richer member states the wealth and employment gap isn't that large. Certainly it's smaller than between Honduras and US immigrants. The common currency has been much more of a problem.

You're clearly not a foreigner. You can see and feel that opinion everyday all over western europe, specially the UK, even if you're just a tourist. Even Paris seems cosy and friendly after being in England.

Well in that case I apologise for my countrymen I suppose.

Huh, i have been to England many times and except for the hostile airports I haven't encountered this.

I worked as a consultant for quite a few months in the UK, Germany and France each and you can feel it in the undercurrent of work life there - and this was nearly a decade ago.
Why do you think the BNP, Front National and Golden Dawn have so much traction? It's not just the currency and banksters (leftist parties are equally against those). It's the sudden impact of uncontrolled immigration as well.

But not immigration from other euro countries, it immigration fom outside eu...

No, it's still a trap. The special economic zone will also receive lots of foreign investment, which means they can funnel in wealth from overseas before nationalizing the lot of it.

This is the risk of every special economic zone, but the problem is, increasingly the wealth is a result of information economy companies.
Venezuala can nationalize the state oil company a lot easier than Honduras would be able to nationalize my software company (which, by the way, will be legally domiciled elsewhere, most likely) and unless they kidnap me, such actions would cause me (and anyone wise) to leave.
Looking at the history of SEZs around the world they have done pretty well. Panama tried an experiment on the atlantic side of the canal and it has boomed... But if Panama were to "nationalize" it, all they'd have is a bunch of warehouses (and maybe the goods in them, but that wouldn't last very long.)

Paul Romer, who also works in this "space", suggests that some first-world nation, such as Canada, act as a guarantor that the host nation (e.g., Honduras) not renege on the agreement.

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