Using industry‐specific and aggregate data for the period 1952–85, this paper focuses on the potential of the insider–outsider explanation of unemployment to account for the differing economic performance of two British industries, electrical engineering and motor vehicles. The former industry experienced a steady expansion in this period whilst the latter was in relative decline. Although hysteresis was found to be somewhat greater in the motor vehicle industry, insider power was rejected, both as a cause of the persistence of unemployment and as an explanation of that industry's contraction.
This article considers how changes in institutional structures affect the motivations of policymakers towards collaboration across borders. The Anglo-Scottish Border is used to illustrate the varied motivations for cross-border collaboration using models of partnership working. Adapting recent frameworks of analysis based on the concept of cross-border regional innovation systems, the Anglo-Scottish border is used to show how institutional changes can alter the balance between symmetries and asymmetries that tend to characterize cross-border relationships. Due to progressive devolution of functions to the Scottish Parliament since the 1990s, there are increasing contrasts in institutional settings and policy frameworks across this sub-state border. The nature of cross-border collaboration in two time periods is compared and contrasted. The first took place during 2000–2004 under the banner of "Border Visions." This is contrasted with the more recent attempts to stimulate cross-border collaboration in the context of the Referendum on Scottish Independence in 2014. It is shown that the motivations for cross-border working can shift in response to changes in the economy and also in response to interactions between policy debates that occur simultaneously at different spatial scales.
The purpose of Cognitive Cumbria is to improve understanding of the local and regional knowledge processes that encourage the growth and quality of innovative and creative businesses across Cumbria. This report has been prepared by the Centre for Regional Economic Development (CRED) at the University of Cumbria to contribute towards this overall purpose. Definitions of research and innovation are specified and applied to the County of Cumbria using relevant available data and sources of information. The report concludes by considering future prospects for innovation and business performance in Cumbria. This report has been commissioned at a time when there is intensified interest in research activity, technological development, science and innovation at virtually all levels of economic policymaking. At the European scale, research priorities specified in the Horizon 2020 and also European Regional Policy give much greater attention to understanding the process of research and innovation than in the recent past. So too at national level, UK Government is placing much greater emphasis on business innovation as a key to unlocking productivity and international competitiveness: Business innovation is a vital ingredient in raising the productivity, competitiveness and growth potential of modern economies. Providing the right economic conditions for and using appropriate policy instruments to encourage innovation in the UK is a central objective. Measuring the level of innovation activity in the UK and identifying where policy might be best targeted contributes to the pursuit of that objective. (UK Innovation Survey, 2015) Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills under the Conservative-Liberal Coalition Government, in a speech delivered in July 2014 (BIS, 2014a), stated that "Of the productivity growth that took place in the UK between 2000 and 2008, one third (32%) was attributable to changes in technology resulting from science and innovation. Innovative firms are also more resilient and more likely to export." More recently, Science Minister, Jo Johnson (BIS, 2015b), has also stated in a speech in July 2015, that "UK taxpayers invest £10 billion a year in research and innovation…and we will invest new capital on a record scale – £6.9 billion in the UK's research infrastructure up to 2021 – which will mean new equipment, new laboratories and new research institutes."
While the usefulness of the term "regional resilience" is currently being debated widely in academia Hill, Wial and Wolman, 2008; Swanstrom, 2008; Chapple and Lester 2007, Simmie and Martin, 2010), the term is already very firmly embedded in the local public policy arena. The encroachment of this term into policy territory once occupied by "emergency planning" is quite striking. In this article, we explore the significance of this shift in emphasis which, we would argue, symbolises a different approach to governance associated with responses to disasters at a local level. Whereas emergency planning is commonly interpreted as a justification for centralised control of decision-making and an upward shift in governance, the concept of resilience focuses attention on the capacity of localities and regions to mitigate and when required to respond to crises as they arise with limited external assistance. A key element in our argument concerns the evolution of partnership as the preferred method for government in delivering a wide range of policies in local areas. Partnership working is often a highly complex process with uncertain outcomes that can take long periods of time to negotiate. It is not unreasonable, therefore, for some commentators to suggest that "normal" processes of local development are incompatible with situations where there is a need for rapid executive action to address emergency needs in a disaster. We develop the argument that increased reference to resilience in local public policy can be interpreted as part of an attempt by central powers to devolve greater responsibility for responding to disasters to local partnerships. We explore these ideas in the context of Cumbria, a rural region of the UK that has experienced a succession of such disasters between 2001 and 2010. The analysis examines the responses of local actors to these periodic crises and the extent to which lessons have been learnt and applied from past experience.
This paper reports on a study which seeks to evaluate the role of small business rates relief as a means of government support for small businesses, in terms of both the financial benefit for recipient businesses and the symbolic significance of rates relief as a form of state support for the small business community in general. In doing so, the paper engages with the theoretical debate regarding the effectiveness and targeting of support to small businesses and how best to achieve this. The paper is based upon a survey of 391 small businesses receiving rates relief in Wales. The study contributes to the literature by filling a gap in our knowledge of business perception of the impact of rates relief and identifying some of the positive and negative aspects of such support mechanisms.
This paper reports on a study which seeks to evaluate the role of small business rates relief as a means of government support for small businesses, in terms of both the financial benefit for recipient businesses and the symbolic significance of rates relief as a form of state support for the small business community in general. In doing so, the paper engages with the theoretical debate regarding the effectiveness and targeting of support to small businesses and how best to achieve this. The paper is based upon a survey of 391 small businesses receiving rates relief in Wales. The study contributes to the literature by filling a gap in our knowledge of business perception of the impact of rates relief and identifying some of the positive and negative aspects of such support mechanisms.
