Transport pricing and public-private partnerships

Public-Private Partnerships have become a favoured way of introducing private capital into transport projects whilst maintaining an element of public interest. This paper considers the potential conflicts that might arise between the freedom of the private operator within a PPP and other elements of the public sector's transport policy. Specifically it tackles the question of the problems that might arise when the public sector wishes to implement a type of price regulation, for example SMC Pricing, which might appear to limit the freedom of the private interest to maximise its value from the PPP according to the contract. The paper demonstrates theoretically the potential inconsistencies between such policies and suggest ways in which they may be overcome

Rethinking the political economy of place: challenges of productivity and inclusion

The global financial crisis of just over a decade ago exposed longer-term systemic problems in global capitalism of which two of the most prominent are the slowdown in the underlying trend rate of productivity growth, alongside a rise in economic and spatial inequalities in many advanced economies. The Covid-19 pandemic looks set to further amplify these problems. This Editorial begins by discussing the scale of the productivity slowdown and of the widening inequalities that have emerged, particularly with regard to their spatial dimension: That is how the uneven and slow development of productivity and rise in inequalities have played out across and within regions and cities. It then briefly considers underlying factors that lie behind these trends, including financialisation/financial globalization, the diminishing role of organised labour, segmentation of the labour market favouring workers who play a key role in financialisation, together with the increasing polarisation within societies according to skill and, crucially, the impact of changing industrial composition particularly as it relates to the rise of the high-tech sectors. The Editorial then examines in what ways the slowdown of productivity and widening of economic and spatial inequalities, may be interrelated, and questions the notion of any efficiency-equity trade-off. Lastly, it considers whether the 'inclusive growth' agenda can potentially reconcile the two ambitions of improving productivity performance and lessening inequalities, reflecting on what inclusive growth could mean, and what it could imply in terms of policy. Thus far, it appears that an inclusive growth agenda has only gained some traction at the subnational level, which seems to reflect- A t least in part- A ttempts by cities and regions to address gaps in policy left by national governments

The task of governments is not simply to build ‘back’ better after COVID-19, but to rebuild forward better, towards an inclusive model of economic growth

Several countries have announced major fiscal and related policy packages to rebuild their economies after the pandemic. Emil Evenhuis, Neil Lee, Ron Martin and Peter Tyler explain why such programmes must be targeted towards improving the economies of lagging regions and left behind places, and the labour market position of disadvantaged social groups

Renewing industrial regions? Advanced manufacturing and industrial policy in Britain

The UK’s industrial strategy, with local variants, aims to support manufacturing in ‘traditional industrial regions’ (TIRs). Using novel data for advanced manufacturing (AM) industries over several decades, we examine long-term changes in their geography by regions and local authority districts. These industries have shifted away from large urban regions, and local authority districts in TIRs have lost ground relative to those in other regions, although there are variations between industries. Foreign direct investment has tended to locate in non-TIR locations. AM industries have not shifted decisively towards research-intensive regions. We consider the implications for policy initiatives seeking to spark clusters around innovation districts

Industrial Policies, Strategy, and the UK’s Levelling Up Agenda

In the context of the UK economy’s slow and unbalanced growth, this paper discusses the degree to which recent Conservative Governments in the UK have moved towards the adoption of a strategic and coherent set of industrial policies to enhance economic performance across the country. It starts by outlining the priorities and principles of new forms of industrial strategy which emphasises the importance of cross-sectoral goals, intensive dialogue between government and the private sector, co-ordination between different policies and levels of government, directions to address societal and environmental challenges and the role of place-based policy making. The paper discusses the degree to which these principles have shaped, or been largely absent from, recent industrial policy development in the UK and particularly the interface between industrial and regional policies. It discusses the May Government’s move to set up an Industrial Strategy with a place ‘pillar’ and the influence of a mission approach. It then reviews the Johnson’s Government’s ‘Plan for Growth’ industrial policy agenda, focussing on the recent Levelling Up White Paper and examines how far and in what ways it has embedded these reforming principles. It finds that despite reflecting some of these principles in its rhetoric, the current government programme has substituted innovation and infrastructure policies for an actual industrial strategy, and continues to rely mainly on a top-down and technologically driven type of approach. The agenda lacks the capacity to deliver its levelling up goals due to inadequate funding, an incomplete devolution agenda and insufficiently developed place-based capacities and policies. Future development needs to move the principles from rhetoric into industrial policy direction and design, and to remedy the continuing lack of local and regional collaboration and co-ordination

University of Kent

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New directions in researching regional economic resilience and adaptation

The paper has two objectives. Firstly, to disentangle several debates with regard to regional economic resilience: What is it exactly? Which types can we distinguish? How can we operationalise it? And how can we conceptualise how it works? The second objective is to outline new directions for researching regional economic resilience. Thus far, research on regional economic resilience has been dominated by quantitative studies looking at how regional economies resisted and recovered from macro-economic downturns (especially the most recent one). I will argue that fruitful new directions are to be found in further developing evolutionary conceptions of regional economic resilience, especially in relation to structural changes in the wider economy. Such evolutionary conceptions do away with notions of equilibrium altogether, and can thus encompass the complete transformation of regional economies. In terms of research focus, this entails homing in on the possible mechanisms through which the processes of reorganisation and reorientation take place within regional economies that undergo adaptation. And in terms of research methodology, this will require more research based on a comparative case study design, using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods

Institutional change in cities and regions:: A path dependency approach

This article aims to make significant advances in the development of a path dependency approach to understanding institutional change at the subnational level in the context of economic development. This approach allows for a differentiated treatment of various types of institutions. Moreover, the approach can also take account of the structures and processes at various levels of scale, as well as the role of agency in bringing about change. These points are illustrated and developed by an examination and comparison of institutional change in the governance arrangements in the city-regions of Saarland (Germany) and Teesside (United Kingdom) since the 1970s

Evolutionary perspectives on economic resilience in regional development

In this chapter we will discuss how the mechanisms and drivers of regional economic resilience can be theorised using Evolutionary Approaches in Economic Geography. We focus on Evolutionary Approaches, which draw from three main theoretical frameworks: Generalised Darwinism, Complexity Theory, and Path Dependency. We will review each of the three frameworks with regard to their understanding of regional economic resilience, with particular attention to their treatment of the roles of agency, institutions and multi-scalar processes. We conclude that the Path Dependency approach – so far relatively neglected in debates on regional resilience – offers the greatest theoretical insight into these interrelated domains and provides the basis for a more comprehensive evolutionary resilience research agenda