Bishop P. and Gripaios P. Spatial externalities, relatedness and sector employment growth in Great Britain, Regional Studies. This paper examines the impact of externalities on employment growth in sub-regions of Great Britain by estimating ordinary least-squares (OLS) and maximum likelihood spatial models at the two-digit level for 23 sectors. Issues arising from relatedness, sector differences, competition, cross-boundary spillovers, and spatial autocorrelation are explicitly addressed. Results indicate that specialization has a generally negative impact on growth, whilst the impact of diversity is heterogeneous across sectors and strong local competition has a typically positive impact. The results question the merits of policies primarily aimed at promoting regional specialization and suggest that diversity, local competition, and sector heterogeneity are important policy issues. [image omitted] Bishop P. et Gripaios P. Les effets externes geographiques, la connectivite et la croissance de l'emploi sectoriel en Grande-Bretagne, Regional Studies. A partir des estimations OLS et des modeles geographiques du maximum de vraisemblance au niveau des deux chiffres pour vingt-trois secteurs, cet article cherche a examiner l'impact des effets externes sur la croissance de l'emploi dans les sous-regions britanniques. On aborde notamment les questions qui emanent de la connectivite, des differences sectorielles, de la concurrence, des retombees transfrontalieres et de l'autocorrelation geographique. Les resultats indiquent qu'en regle generale la specialisation influe de facon negative sur la croissance, alors que l'impact de la diversite s'avere heterogene a travers les secteurs et que la concurrence locale vive influe de facon positive, comme d'habitude. Les resultats mettent en doute les politiques qui cherchent essentiellement a promouvoir la specialisation regionale et laissent supposer que la diversite, la concurrence locale et l'heterogeneite sectorielle sont d'importantes questions de politique. Effets externes geographiques Croissance de l'emploi Grande-Bretagne Bishop P. und Gripaios P. Ra�umliche Externalita�ten, Beziehungen und sektorales Bescha�ftigungswachstum in Grossbritannien, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag untersuchen wir die Auswirkung von Externalita�ten auf das Bescha�ftigungswachstum in den Subregionen von Grossbritannien mit Hilfe einer OLS-Scha�tzung und ra�umlicher maximaler Wahrscheinlichkeitsmodelle auf zweistelliger Ebene fur 23 Sektoren. Insbesondere gehen wir auf Aspekte der Bereiche Beziehung, Sektorunterschiede, Wettbewerb, grenzuberschreitende Ubertragungen und ra�umliche Autokorrelation ein. Die Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass sich eine Spezialisierung generell negativ auf das Wachstum auswirkt, wa�hrend die Auswirkung von Vielfalt innerhalb der Sektoren heterogen ausfa�llt und ein starker lokaler Wettbewerb in der Regel positive Auswirkungen hat. Die Ergebnisse stellen den Nutzen von Politiken in Frage, die in erster Linie auf eine Forderung der regionalen Spezialisierung abzie...

The authors contribute to the developing literature on call centres by providing detailed empirical evidence on the spatial unevenness in the distribution of call centre activity. They argue that the driving forces of call centre growth, whether as the rationalisation of back-office functions or as entirely new entities, have been corporate strategy and the pursuit of low-cost competitive advantage. Thus, although technological developments at the heart of call centre operations render them relatively ‘footloose’ in locational terms, the search for specific characteristics makes certain regions (and parts of regions) more attractive than others. By using a sample database of call centres, the authors describe the characteristics of call centres in the United Kingdom in terms of size, sector, and spatial distribution. They then attempt to explain the determinants of call centre location at the county level through a multiple regression analysis. The results indicate that there is a propensity to site call centres close to existing concentrations of allied activity, with preferences for densely populated areas mediated by needs to maintain employee access and avoid staff turnover problems. This has important implications for the spatial division of labour, with call centre growth likely to reinforce existing spatial unevenness in employment in key service activities. The authors conclude by considering the implications of these findings for contemporary urban and regional development, as well as providing a number of suggestions for future research.

This paper examines the impact of Objective 1 funding in Europe in reducing country and regional disparities in gross value added per capita by presenting a critical review of both empirical studies and end-of-term programme reports. In practice, it is very difficult to establish impact effects because it is hard to establish the counterfactual. This difficulty arises as a consequence of different theoretical predictions as to what would happen in the absence of intervention, overlapping funding streams, and the regional impact of other policies such as European integration. There are also evaluation problems caused by data inadequacies and noise. Even so, the balance of evidence suggests that Objective 1 funding has had remarkably little demonstrable impact and there is, therefore, a strong case for reform.

No abstract

This paper argues that effective local policy development requires a thorough understanding of patterns of spatial diversity involving the integration of theoretical work from geography, economics and management. An empirical analysis of diversity in Great Britain for the period 1995-2002 is presented utilising entropy measures of diversity. The results of empirical models of the determinants of diversity across sub-regions examine the significance of a number of explanatory factors including regional size, level of urbanisation, industry structure, market structure and key resources. Decomposing the model into related and unrelated diversity components reveals some important differences between the two types of diversity. The paper concludes that policies fostering long-term diversity are a crucial complement to policies focusing on key sectors.