Have City Deals delivered higher productivity in England? An empirical assessment of a broad-spectrum local growth policy

Sanjay I Raja and Johan P Larsson
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Sanjay I Raja: University of Cambridge, UK
Johan P Larsson: University of Cambridge, UK

Urban Studies, 2025, vol. 62, issue 6, 1141-1167

Abstract: The issue of what constitutes effective regional growth policy has remained elusive, particularly for ‘broad-spectrum’ policy aimed at a large part of a country. We undertake one of the first quantitative studies looking at the City Deals in England, analysing effects on productivity. We employ a difference-in-differences model, an event study, and a synthetic control method to evaluate effects on productivity. The results are mixed and usually not statistically different from zero. While the difference-in-differences framework indicates some positive effects, possibly driven by places that were the most productive before the intervention, the event study and synthetic control methods point to, at best, small effects that diminish over time. Our findings, therefore, question the efficacy of such deals in terms of narrowing the UK’s longstanding regional inequalities, while opening up several avenues for further research to understand what worked and what did not within a ‘broad-spectrum’ local growth strategy.

Keywords: economic processes; local government; infrastructure; policy; governance; regional policy; productivity; ç» æµŽè¿‡ç¨‹; 地方政府; 基础设施; 政策; æ²»ç †; 区域政策; 生产力 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:62:y:2025:i:6:p:1141-1167

DOI: 10.1177/00420980241270993

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