Suchergebnisse

"The Scottish economy is at the heart of contemporary constitutional and public policy debates. This substantial new edited collection, the first comprehensive and authoritative analysis for more than 60 years, is a timely update on the classic volume of the same name edited by Sir Alec Cairncross in 1954. It is data rich, and offers links to updatable data and leading indicators of the Scottish economy including measures of public finances, distributional evidence and growth. Readers will find a series of easy to follow chapters covering the Scottish economy from every angle - oil and gas, health, education, finance, rural Scotland, inequality, climate change, gender and work, housing, infrastructure and cities. Each sector-based chapter explores the main issues, draws out key empirical facts and considers policy challenges that lie ahead. This book includes: an historical account of the development of the Scottish economy; the trajectory of economic policy in Scotland; reviews of the current fiscal position and the wider economic landscape; and also an intriguing insight into the emerging distinctive approach to Scottish public policy. This book brings together evidence and high quality research by experts on the Scottish economy in a politically neutral, accessible and non-technical way. The volume will assist readers in navigating their way through the many political debates about constitutional and economic futures that are underway in modern Scotland and the UK. A website also exists to accompany The Scottish Economy - www.scottisheconomy.scot. In today's inter-connected world, it makes sense to have a book on the Scottish economy supplemented by online access to important data, information and evidence as a means of keeping material current."--

Within the UK, Scotland and England operate largely devolved housing policy systems (this paper does not discuss Welsh housing policy, even though much of the same analysis can and should examine the relative divergence of policy between Wales and England, and convergence with Scotland – but that would need to be another paper). Since the 2010 advent of fiscal austerity, housing policy has diverged significantly with respect to affordable and social housing supply programmes. Scotland has returned to council house building and retained a significant grant-funded programme aimed at delivering supply targets intended to tackle unmet housing need. In England, in contrast, following the Coalition Government's Affordable Homes Programme, the response has been to greatly diminish social housing programmes and to replace them with less generous 'affordable' supply programmes for ownership and rent. This experience masks fundamentally different policy settings and assumptions about the housing problem in each country. This paper will first set out the context and mechanisms of housing policy prior to the switch to deficit reduction and austerity, before briefly outlining the policy instruments and strategies adopted in both countries, contrasting their impacts and outcomes. Second, it will investigate the relative effectiveness of these policies, drawing on a synthesis of critical policy science and public policy literatures. The final section discusses the findings in a forward-looking way and also reflects on possible lessons from housing policy divergence and the analytical tools deployed in this paper.

Housing policy in Scotland is both distinctive and largely though not wholly devolved. Since 1999, housing has been at the core of divergent policymaking. In the recent referendum period, housing also featured indirectly in terms of the housing-related impacts of welfare reform such as the bedroom tax. Consequently, the proposed changes devolving aspects of welfare and borrowing proposed by the Smith Commission also have ramifications for housing. However, continuing housing need in Scotland and the various challenges identified in this paper to achieving strategic policy goals for the housing system mean that housing will remain a priority.

This paper investigates the growth in financial participation in the UK. Using a large-scale survey, the hypothesis is tested that different company types are associated with different forms of financial participation. In particular, empirical evidence supports the view that certain types of firms are likely to engage in those schemes that offer tax concessions. These firms are clearly associated with large, public limited companies, located in the South-East of England who tend to be capital-intensive, non-union and otherwise non-participative. Financial participation in Britain appears to be cosmetic and opportunistic with little relation to genuine participation.