Rethinking the political economy of place: challenges of productivity and inclusion

Emil Evenhuis, Neil Lee, Ron Martin and Peter Tyler

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

Abstract: The global financial crisis of just over a decade ago exposed longer-term systemic problems in global capitalism of which two of the most prominent are the slowdown in the underlying trend rate of productivity growth, alongside a rise in economic and spatial inequalities in many advanced economies. The Covid-19 pandemic looks set to further amplify these problems. This Editorial begins by discussing the scale of the productivity slowdown and of the widening inequalities that have emerged, particularly with regard to their spatial dimension: That is how the uneven and slow development of productivity and rise in inequalities have played out across and within regions and cities. It then briefly considers underlying factors that lie behind these trends, including financialisation/financial globalization, the diminishing role of organised labour, segmentation of the labour market favouring workers who play a key role in financialisation, together with the increasing polarisation within societies according to skill and, crucially, the impact of changing industrial composition particularly as it relates to the rise of the high-tech sectors. The Editorial then examines in what ways the slowdown of productivity and widening of economic and spatial inequalities, may be interrelated, and questions the notion of any efficiency-equity trade-off. Lastly, it considers whether the 'inclusive growth' agenda can potentially reconcile the two ambitions of improving productivity performance and lessening inequalities, reflecting on what inclusive growth could mean, and what it could imply in terms of policy. Thus far, it appears that an inclusive growth agenda has only gained some traction at the subnational level, which seems to reflect- A t least in part- A ttempts by cities and regions to address gaps in policy left by national governments.

Keywords: economic inequality; inclusive growth; spatial inequality; uneven development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 H40 O18 O40 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2021-03-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 1, March, 2021, 14(1), pp. 3 - 24. ISSN: 1752-1378

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Journal Article: Rethinking the political economy of place: challenges of productivity and inclusion (2021)
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