Regional Economic Development and the Case of Wales: Theory and Practice and Problems of Strategy and Policy

Abstract

The article assesses economic development strategy in Wales since devolution. It considers theoretical views on success or failure of devolution to realise economic benefit, and reviews existing explanations of Wales’ lack of success in changing its position relative to other UK territories. The article develops a novel critique first of overall economic development strategy, suggesting problems of coherence, consistency and methods of implementation. It then critiques three policies that have had the potential to realise development strategy - transport, renewable energy and public procurement - again revealing problems of coherence, consistency, implementation and governance.

Welsh productivity performance: lost cause or still waiting for a miracle?

“…Despite Labour being the party of government or coalition lead partner over six successive Welsh Assembly/Senedd terms, Wales has still experienced significant economic development policy churn. Since devolution the Welsh Government has produced a series of economic development strategies (Bradbury and Davies, 2022). Only the first of these (Welsh Government, 2002) referred to explicit gross value added per head convergence.…”

“…12 Convergence aspirations were quickly abandoned in the absence of progress in closing the gap with the wider UK. In the assessment of Bradbury and Davies (2022), prosperity (or productivity) convergence was doomed to fail with no wider UK strategy for addressing regional inequalities, and a heavy focus on supply-side instruments rather than policy to address economic demand deficiency.…”

“…Carefully developed spatial plans have subsequently been quietly abandoned as the opportunity for local authorities to combine and established Growth Deals have emerged. Furthermore, particularly since the closure of the Welsh Development Agency, siloed policy implementation focused on public sector actors across the main spending areas (education and skills, health, transport), despite recognition of the inter-relationships between public and private sectors in high level economic strategy statements (Bradbury and Davies, 2022).…”

“…While discussion of policy mix might fall outside the scope of this paper, it can be concluded that the achievement of appropriate policy mix requires a coherent and integrated approach to the design and implementation of industrial and regional strategy. This is a cultural feature of policy making which, over nearly a quarter of a century of devolved government, has been largely absent (Bradbury and Davies, 2022). In summary, a widening gap between the value of what is produced in Wales and the earnings, consumption, and delivery of public goods aspirations of its population implies over the longer term either a widening Welsh fiscal deficit or the growing political frustrations of its population (Ifan et al, 2022).…”