Michael Kitson

Regional Competitiveness: An Elusive yet Key Concept?

established a European Council of Competitiveness,and it undertook to produce a regular CompetitivenessThere is now widespread agreement that we are wit-Report on the performance of the economy of thenessing the ‘resurgence’ of regions as key loci in theEuropean Union (the most recent being the seventh,organization and governance of economic growth andfor 2003). In the European Union, the issue of com-wealth creation. A previous special issue of this journalpetitiveness has taken on particular significance in rela-(‘Rethinking the Regions’,

Social capital, economic growth and regional development

Iyer S., Kitson M. and Toh B. (2005) Social capital, economic growth and regional development, Regional Studies 39 , 1015–1040. This paper examines the relationships between social capital, economic performance and regional development, and it stresses the complexity and variability across space of such relationships. In contrast to the conventional macroeconomic approach of using indicators of social capital in formal growth models, what is required is a more nuanced analysis that evaluates the impact of social capital by region. To support this argument, the paper examines social capital data from the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey 2000, which provides social capital data for more than 24 000 individuals living in 40 communities, grouped into nine regions, in the USA. These data show remarkable diversity of social capital by region. Multivariate analysis is used to examine the impact of economic and social determinants of social capital and shows that education is important for nearly all indicators of social capital, and that ethnic diversity is associated with lower levels of social capital. Furthermore, analysis indicates the need to distinguish between local and non‐local forms of social capital. The paper concludes by suggesting that future analysis of social capital will benefit from a more region‐specific approach towards examining its development and impacts.

Functional Polycentrism and Urban Network Development in the Greater South East, United Kingdom: Evidence from Commuting Patterns, 1981–2001

De Goei B., Burger M. J., Van Oort F. G. and Kitson M. Functional polycentrism and urban network development in the Greater South East, United Kingdom: evidence from commuting patterns, 1981–2001, Regional Studies. In contemporary literature on changing urban systems, it is often argued that the traditional central place conceptualization is outdated and should be replaced by a network view that emphasizes the increasing criss-crossing pattern of interdependencies between spatial units. This paper tests how urban networks develop by looking at commuting patterns in the Greater South East, United Kingdom, for the period 1981–2001. Although the empirical results indicate that the Greater South East cannot be currently characterized as a polycentric urban region or an integrated urban network, there is some evidence for urban network development at the local, intra-urban, level, and a decentralization of the system at the regional, inter-urban, level. De Goei B., Burger M. J., Van Oort F. G. et Kitson M. Le polycentrisme fonctionnel et le développement des réseaux urbains dans l’agglomération du sud-est du R-U: des preuves provenant de la structure des migrations quotidiennes entre 1981 et 2001, Regional Studies. Dans la documentation récente sur l’évolution des systèmes urbains, on affirme souvent que la notion classique de la place centrale est démodée et que l’on devrait la remplacer par une notion de réseaux qui souligne la croissance des interdépendances entrecroisées des zones géographiques. Cet article cherche à tester l’évolution des réseaux urbains tout en examinant la structure des migrations quotidiennes urbaines dans l’agglomération du sud-est du R-U entre 1981 et 2001. Bien que les résultats empiriques laissent voir que l’agglomération du sud-est du R-U ne se caractérise actuellement ni comme une région urbaine polycentrique, ni comme un réseau urbain intégré, il y a des preuves en faveur du développement des réseaux urbains sur le plan local intraurbain et d’une décentralisation du système au niveau régional interurbain. Royaume-Uni Agglomération du sud-est Réseaux urbains Migrations quotidiennes Modèle de gravité De Goei B., Burger M. J., Van Oort F. G. und Kitson M. Funktionaler Polyzentrismus und Entwicklung urbaner Netzwerke im Großraum des Südostens von Großbritannien: Belege aus Pendlerströmen, 1981–2001, Regional Studies. In der modernen Literatur über Veränderungen in den urbanen Systemen wird oftmals die These aufgestellt, dass die traditionelle Konzeptualisierung eines zentralen Ortes veraltet ist und durch eine Netzwerkperspektive ersetzt werden sollte, mit der die zunehmend kreuz und quer verlaufenden Wechselwirkungen zwischen räumlichen Einheiten betont wird. In diesem Beitrag überprüfen wir die Entwicklung urbaner Netzwerke am Beispiel der Pendlerströme im Großraum des Südostens von Großbritannien zwischen 1981 und 2001. Aus den empirischen Ergebnissen geht hervor, dass sich der Südosten Großbritanniens derzeit nicht als polyzentrische urbane Region oder integriertes urbanes Netzwerk charakterisieren lässt. Dennoch gibt es einige Anzeichen für die Entwicklung eines urbanen Netzwerks auf lokaler intra-urbaner Ebene sowie für eine Dezentralisierung des Systems auf regionaler intra-urbaner Ebene. Großbritannien Großraum Südost Urbane Netzwerke Pendlerverkehr Schwerkraftmodell De Goei B., Burger M. J., Van Oort F. G. y Kitson M. Policentrismo funcional y desarrollo de redes urbanas en el sureste de Inglaterra: evidencias de modelos de desplazamientos, 1981–2001, Regional Studies. En la literatura contemporánea sobre cambios en los sistemas urbanos se suele argumentar que la conceptualización tradicional de un lugar céntrico está desfasada y debería reemplazarse por una visión de redes que haga hincapié en el creciente modelo entrecruzado de interdependencias entre las unidades espaciales. En este artículo comprobamos cómo se desarrollan las redes urbanas al observar los modelos de desplazamientos en la región sureste del Reino Unido durante el periodo 1981–2001. Aunque los resultados empíricos indican que la región sureste del Reino Unido no se puede caracterizar actualmente como una región urbana policéntrica o una red urbana integrada, hay evidencias de un desarrollo de redes urbanas a nivel local e intraurbano y una descentralización del sistema a nivel regional e interurbano. Reino Unido Zona sureste Redes urbanas Desplazamientos al trabajo Modelo de gravedad

Policies to enhance the ‘hidden innovation’ in services: evidence and lessons from the UK

More than 75% of the UK economy is based on services. Knowledge-based services generate more than five times as much value added for the UK economy as advanced manufacturing. Yet, there are persistent gaps in understanding the innovative performance of services. Using Fourth UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS4) data and the results of a detailed case study analysis, this article helps to fill this gap by analysing what innovation in services means and how it can be measured. The traditional indicators of innovation inputs (such as levels of R&D expenditures) and innovation outputs (such as the number of patents) suggest that services are less innovative than other branches of the economy. We take into account a larger spectrum of innovation indicators, both in terms of innovation inputs and outputs, to analyse whether the intensity, nature and economic impact of innovation significantly varies between the manufacturing and service sectors in UK, and between different parts of the services sector such as knowledge-intensive business services and traditional services. The results of the empirical analysis identify the ‘hidden parts’ of innovation in services, that is, the innovative activities and successful innovative outputs that are traditionally underestimated by the use of metrics based on R&D and patents. We suggest a wide range of policy measures specifically targeted at enhancing innovation in services; the UK service economy needs more focus on learning and the training of personnel, and a new balance of policy to support both R&D and non-R&D innovation activities.

Britain's Industrial Performance since 1960: Underinvestment and Relative Decline

This article argues first, that Britains industrial performance since I960 has been relatively poor; secondly, that despite the views of Crafts and others, the deindustrialisation which has resulted from this relatively poor industrial performance is a serious problem for the whole economy - not just for the industrial sector itself; thirdly, that neither the specific problem of deindustrialisation nor the consequent general problem of continued relative economic decline were solved in the 1980s; and fourthly, that the key reason why British industry has been doing relatively poorly has been underinvestment in manufacturing. This underinvestment has been allowed to persist by the lack of any strong modernising forces within British society, with the trade union movement having been either too weak or too defensive, and with government policy at best being rather ineffectual and at worst positively harmful. The reasons for this policy failure lie in Britains economic history and in the resulting distorted nature of both the economy and society. This fundamental problem, of a lack of any strong modernising force, has if anything been exacerbated since 1979.

Conflict, cooperation and change: The political economy of trade and trade policy

Abstract Domestic and international economic policy is still dominated by laissez‐faire economics, despite the failure of such policy analysis in the 1980s to have brought about the sort of economic growth and high employment witnessed through the 1950s and 1960s. The dominant feature of international trade theory is the assumed superiority of free trade and non‐intervention. In this paper we argue that the neo‐classical case for free trade is based on inappropriate assumptions; relax these assumptions and the case for non‐intervention goes with them. This paper argues that to return to a situation of reasonable stability and balanced growth for individual countries, and for the world economy as a whole, increased management of the international trading and monetary systems will be required.

The De-industrialisation of the City

The industrial city in Britain is the product of nineteenth-century capitalism. Technical innovations in production and the accumulation of capital led to the development of large factories. At the same time it was advantageous for factories to be clustered near the focal points of the rudimentary transport network, such as ports, canals and railway terminals, and workers had little choice but to live close by. Few restrictions were placed on urban development. The result was that cities grew in an uncontrolled and cumulative manner following the cost-and-profit calculations of entrepreneurs. Britain was the first country to become fully urbanised: by the middle of the century over half the population lived in the new industrial cities.

Geographical Variations in Transport Costs of Manufacturing Firms in Great Britain

The authors examine the extent to which there are geographical variations in transport costs for manufacturing firms in Great Britain. A new methodology is adopted which provides important new insights and which avoids many of the limitations of earlier work. The research presents a new index of transport accessibility for different types of industry by a thirty area disaggregation in Great Britain and translates the accessibility measure into an index of economic cost using up-to-date information provided by the Road Hauliers Association. Overall the research gives some support to the findings of earlier work on the size of variations in transport costs at the level of standard region in Great Britain, but finds significant sub-regional variation.

The impact of the New and Expanded Town programmes on industrial location in Britain, 1960–78

Fothergill S., Kitson M. and Monk S. (1983) The impact of the New and Expanded Town programmes on industrial location in Britain, 1960–78, Reg. Studies 17, 251–260. Between 1960 and 1978 manufacturing employment in the New and Expanded Towns rose by nearly a quarter of a million relative to the national trend in this sector. Part of the increase resulted from the urban-rural shift in manufacturing which occurred throughout Britain, but 120–140,000 jobs can be attributed to public policy. Policy was most effective in the early 1960s, especially in the New Towns, though the expansion in the New and Expanded Towns was small compared to the decline in the conurbations. Since the mid 1970s both programmes have had little discernible impact on industrial location.

Measuring Capitalism: Output, Growth and Economic Policy

Over 70 years ago, Keynes (1930) published an essay in optimism predicting that within a century the standard of life in progressive countries would be between four and eight times higher, and the ‘economic problem’ would have effectively been solved. Individuals would then appreciate that: ‘avarice is a vice, that the exaction of usury is a misdemeanour, and the love of money is detestable, that those walk most truly in the paths of virtue and sane wisdom who take least thought for the morrow … We shall honour those who can teach us to pluck the hour and the day virtuously and well, the delightful people who are capable of taking direct enjoyment in things, the lilies of the field who toil not, neither do they spin’ (Keynes 1930).