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Despite the importance of interregional trade for building effective regional economic policies, there are very few hard data to illustrate such interdependencies. We propose here a novel research framework to predict interregional trade flows by utilizing freely available Web data and machine learning algorithms. Specifically, we extract hyperlinks between archived Websites in the United Kingdom and we aggregate these data to create an interregional network of hyperlinks between geolocated and commercial Web pages over time. We also use existing interregional trade data to train our models using random forests and then make out-of-sample predictions of interregional trade flows using a rolling-forecasting framework. Our models illustrate great predictive capability with R2 greater than 0.9. We are also able to disaggregate our predictions in terms of industrial sectors, but also at a subregional level, for which trade data are not available. In total, our models provide a proof of concept that the digital traces left behind by physical trade can help us capture such economic activities at a more granular level and, consequently, inform regional policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, increased attention has been given to role of inter-organisational knowledge networks in promoting regional economic growth. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence base concerning the extent to which inter-organisational knowledge networks influence regional growth is at best patchy. This article utilises a panel data regression approach to undertake an empirical analysis of economic growth across regions of the UK. Drawing on the concept of network capital, significant differences in the stocks of network capital and flows of knowledge within and across regions are found, which are significantly associated with regional rates of economic growth. The analysis finds that both inter and intra-regional networks shape regional growth processes, highlighting the role of both embedded localised linkages and the importance of accessing more geographically distant knowledge. The study adds weight to the suggestion that one of the most interesting implications of endogenous growth theory relates to the impact of the spatial organisation of regions on flows of knowledge. It is concluded that the adoption of a relational approach to understanding differing economic geographies indicates that network systems are a key component of the regional development mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of fundamental concerns have been raised over the recent abolition of regional economic and planning institutions processes and associated plans and strategies in England. In particular, questions have arisen over the strength and democratic accountability of the new arrangements emerging at a sub-regional scale--namely local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) that as yet have neither legal powers nor any formal planning role. Consequently, this article critically assesses the role, provenance and value of the abolished regional institutions together with the parallel criticisms. It also examines the potential for LEPs as their replacement and to develop into democratically accountable, locally self-determined strategic planning bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Location Quotients (LQs) remain an important tool for geographical analysis, particularly in terms of assessing industrial specialisation and clustering. LQs as decision aids are typically understood through the use of arbitrarily set cut-off values. However, LQs are rarely accompanied by an associated level of variance that can be connected with the estimated data used to calculate them. This paper reveals the importance of understanding this variance and shows how confidence intervals can be estimated for employment-based LQs. A systematic process is introduced, through which the arbitrariness of cut-off-value choice can be mitigated and borderline industry cases in terms of their LQ values and the considered cut-off value, identified. A case from a UK region is used to illustrate the issues covered in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

From the mid-1950s, social scientists in the USA began trying to understand the geography of economic problems using quantitative methods and theoretical models. Subnational regions had the ideal proportions for performing this research, which led to the creation of a new subject area, ‘regional science’. When regional economic imbalances shot up the political agenda in Britain in the 1960s, advocates of regional science saw an opportunity to expand the reach of their subject. This article examines the migration of American regional science to Britain and explores why its ideas and organisational model met with opposition. It argues that the transnational transfer of academic networks is more complex than has been acknowledged and that British regional research and policy was more influenced by American ideas than is commonly recognised. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT We analyze the resilience of U.K. regions to employment shocks. Two basic notions of resilience are distinguished. With engineering resilience, there is an underlying stable growth path to which a regional economy rebounds following a shock. With ecological resilience, shocks can permanently affect the growth path of the regional economy. Our data set consists of quarterly employment series for 12 U.K. regions (NUTS I) for the period 1971-2010. Using a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model specification, we test for the relevance of (engineering) resilience of U.K. regional employment to the four recessionary shocks in our sample. It turns out that U.K. regions do indeed differ in their resilience, but that these differences mainly concern the initial resistance to these shocks and not so much the recovery stage. The SUR model does not allow shocks to have permanent effects and it also does not take the possibility of time differentiated shock spillovers between the 12 regions into account. To this end, we also estimate a vector error-correction model (VECM) specification where employment shocks can have permanent effects and where also interregional employment linkages are included. We find that employment shocks typically have permanent effects when it concerns the own-region effects. Permanent effects can also be found for the impact on other regions but the interregional effects are typically only significant for nearby regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the absence of regional government, New Labour has pursued a process of administrative decentralisation in the English regions outside London, including the appointment of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), charged with stimulating economic modernisation and assisting in reducing regional economic disparities. They have acquired a key position as strategic power-brokers situated between the agendas of Whitehall and the demands of sub-national interests. RDAs operate, however, within complex, competing structures, tied to meeting nationally determined targets and too little attention has been given to capturing their overall effectiveness. Reflecting New Labour's rejection of the need for a more even spread of economic activity between regions, RDAs also lack sufficient resources to make a significant impact on economic disparities. Treasury-led reforms could see the agencies taking responsibility for preparing single regional strategies, but there are contradictions between their remit to increase economic growth and deliver social and environmental objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is a growing body of research into the cultural and creative industries, little work has focused specifically upon on the geography of design and its role in regional economies. The relative neglect of the geography of the UK design industry is surprising given recent assertions about the sector's role in national economic competitiveness; its contribution to product innovation; and its importance as an urban regeneration resource. This paper explicitly considers the extent to which existing conceptualizations of agglomeration and creativity provide insights into the realm of design. Our discussion reflects upon recent surveys of the design sector and analyses current design organization membership data, both of which reveal an overwhelming concentration of design activities in London and the South East. Our analysis of the strategies, organization and practices of agencies in London reveals that a number of the key features associated with cultural industries in general are significantly less discernible within design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the economically developed world, over 75 percent of all jobs involve some form of service work. Over the last 30 years, there has been a dramatic growth in business and professional services (BPS) or those firms that provide “creative” intermediate inputs into the activities of client companies. BPS firms have a double impact on regional economic performance: they add value in their own right but also create productivity improvements in client companies. This article explores the development of a BPS-focused regional economic development policy in the West Midlands, United Kingdom. Developing a policy framework for BPS is problematic as the heterogeneous nature of BPS activities means that no single lobbying group exists to represent their interests. The West Midlands has tried to overcome this difficulty by creating subregional networking organizations and, more recently, by developing a policy approach that attempts to enhance the added value BPS firms provide to their clients. This represents a major, but as yet untested, development in policy intervention as it recognizes the complex interactions that occur between BPS firms and their clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the recommendations of the Allsopp Review on the adequacy of UK regional economic statistics. It raises general concerns over the philosophy underpinning the review and specific questions as to whether the review's recommendations are sufficient to operate effectively the present UK regional policy regime. In particular, the institutional arrangements that make up the 'new localism' in UK regional policy have data requirements that are more extensive than simply monitoring performance against government targets. Many of these in formational requirements were simply not considered or were given an inappropriately low weight in the Review's deliberations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is currently strong political desire at both European and national scales to ‘relocalize’ food production and supply. While advocacy remains high, few studies have interrogated the form of these ‘new’ food chains. This article provides an analysis of such chains in the Scottish-English borders. It traces supply links between small-scale ‘specialist’ food producers and associated intermediaries for three product sectors. Linking the two stages of the food chain together, the analysis shows differences within and between, as well as similarities across, sectors in terms of spatial and economic organization. It also reveals the ‘hybrid’ nature of specialist food chains in the region; local producers have created their own ‘niche spaces’ within the food system. The article thus contributes to debates on new agro-food geographies and regional economic geography and argues that local (specialist) small-scale enterprises do not usually establish food chains which are ‘independent’ of the wider food supply system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent pursuit of regional planning agendas in England has coincided with a strong push from the government towards an evidence-based, information-intensive approach to policymaking, with the increased use of statistical indicators to inform and evaluate emerging regional policies. In this paper we aim to examine the monitoring arrangements, and the way indicators are used, in the development and monitoring of key regional strategies (Regional Planning Guidance, Regional Economic Strategies). The idea is to examine indicator usage and monitoring arrangements from a political — managerial perspective through an exploration of the realm of rational- technocratic activities of monitoring within the institutional environment of Regional Planning Bodies and Regional Development Agencies. Following a review of academic literature, we explore the regional intelligence management and the monitoring arrangements of the two key regional strategies in each of the English regions. The analysis is based on documentary and web-based reviews as well as in-depth interviews conducted with key regional actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of articles related to city planning. "Promoting Retail Innovation: Knowledge Flows During the Emergence of Self-Service and Supermarket Retailing in Britain," by Andrew Alexander, Gareth Shaw and Louise Curth; "The Nature of Op Art: Bridget Riley and the Art of Nonrepresentation," by Simon Rycroft; "Was the 1937 U.S. Housing Act a Pyrrhic Victory?," by D. Bradford Hunt.

Is social capital a prerequisite for prosperity? This paper analyzes social capital and economic performance in the British regions. Like Italy, Britain has a north–south economic divide. Are these differences caused by unequal stocks of social capital? This paper provides limited support for the hypothesized relationship between some indicators of social capital (especially trust and civic associations) and economic performance. Economic associations, however, are negatively correlated. This highlights shortcomings in social capital theory in terms of transferring the concept to new settings, the mechanisms linking social capital to production and the translation of social capital into public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a critical exploration of the issues raised by the attempt to integrate aims and concerns derived from one European Union (EU) policy domain into another. It does this via an examination of the ways in which the European Employment Strategy (EES) has been taken into account in the design and initial implementation of Structural Fund program in the 2000–2006 round. In particular, it examines the nature of this ‘mainstreaming’ relationship in terms of the structures and mechanisms associated with current Objective 1 program operating in the UK. It maps out the vertical and horizontal linkages between European, national and regional levels, and assesses the extent to which strategic frameworks, program guidance and program content have successfully integrated EES considerations. The article concludes by identifying some implications for theories of European governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism increasingly features in strategic regional policy documents, being considered important to regional economic prospects. Consequently many regions, notably those less prosperous, have expended significant resources in developing tourism attractions, promoting tourism events and supporting tourism-based operations. In this resource context, the difficulties in assessing the economic contribution of this diverse (and often atomised) set of activities are of concern. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and others have suggested Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSAs) as a suitable method of providing consistent economic evaluation of tourism-based activity. Yet the provision of an accurate and reliable set of accounts, which informs policy decisions and resource directions, is far from easy. This paper examines some of the methodological difficulties in constructing a TSA at the regional level and implications for deriving an effective tourism policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to examine some of the lessons from the past: in particular the 1994-1999 programming period of the EU Structural Funds. It then proposes to examine the current UK implementation of the Structural Fund programmes for 2000-2006 and raise some issues which currently emerge in terms of the UK government's new policy agenda affecting economic development. Thereafter the paper develops this analysis in order to raise some early issues in preparing for post-2006, which need to be considered in the post-devolution era in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the role played by the industrial landscape in the discourse of economic depression in interwar England and Wales. Political aspects of industrial geography; Administration of regional economies; Activities of the Industrial Transference Board and the Special Areas Commission.

The article discusses regionalism in Great Britain from the perspective of urban sociological theory, including in regard to capital in Great Britain and regional economics. British economic development, including the impact that the demise of the British Empire had on economic development, is provided. An overview of the impact of 20th century British politics on regionalism in Great Britain, including local government's loss of autonomy to the central government, is also provided.