Performance within a recession: The converging trajectories of retail centres in the UK

Using retail-centre aggregated microeconomic data for over 65,000 retail and service units in the UK, we explore the differential influence of the 2007/8 economic recession on the performance of retail centres. For the first time in the context on town centre/high street analyses of performance, we employ growth and convergence models to examine whether centres with different vacancy rates in the pre-recession period converged in the recession period that followed. The results indicate that the recession had higher negative influence on those centres that experienced lower retail vacancy rates in the pre-recession period, leading to convergence in retail vacancy rates. Despite the negative effect of recession in the UK retail market, the results show that there were some retail centres which were resilient to the effects of recession. Finally, there is evidence that the location and the size of retail centres moderate the convergence path. © 2018 The Author(s). Regional Science Policy and Practice © 2018 RSA

Quality of Life in the Economic and Urban Economic Literature

Quality of life is increasingly becoming a concept researched empirically and theoretically in the field of economics. In urban economics in particular, this increasing interest stems mainly from the fact that quality of life affects urban competitiveness and urban growth - research shows that when households and businesses decide where to locate, quality of life considerations can play a very important role. The purpose of the present paper is to examine the way economic literature and urban economic literature in particular, have adopted quality of life considerations in the economic thinking. Moreover, it presents the ways various studies have attempted to capture the multidimensional nature of the concept, and quantify it for the purposes of empirical research. Conclusions are drawn on the state of affairs regarding the study of quality of life in economics, as well as the problems of measurement arising mainly from the complex nature of the concept.urban economics