Uneven economic development and its implications for policy: lessons from the UK

Henry Overman

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper examines the UK’s large and, by some measures, growing variation in economic performance across cities and regions and assesses how policymakers can and should respond. The traditional policy mix – including central government investments in local growth projects, transport and other infrastructure, and funding for business support and access to finance – has not been effective. Greater local control is needed to improve policy effectiveness and recent devolution deals and directly elected mayors are a step in this direction. Nonetheless, when devolving powers, it is important that policies that have wide scale impacts (such as transport and housing) are coordinated across local areas. London’s strong economic performance plays a large part in explaining widening disparities within the UK. Providing an effective counter-balance to London may require policy aimed at ‘rebalancing’ to be more spatially focused. Ultimately, policymakers should care about the effect of policies on people more than on places and thus efforts to rebalance an economy should be judged on the extent to which they improve opportunities for all, rather than whether they narrow the gap between particular places.

Keywords: economic development; United Kingdom (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O15 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 5 pages
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland, 2018, 47, pp. 106-111. ISSN: 0081-4776

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:100833

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