After a decade of devolution and amid uncertainties about its effects, it is timely to assess and reflect upon the evidence and enduring meaning of any ‘economic dividend’ of devolution in the UK. Taking an institutionalist and quantitative approach, we seek to discern the nature and extent...

Geographers have often reflected on the impact of their research on policy making. Contributions usually focus on the (ir)relevance of research topics or on the pressures to ‘publish or perish’ that discourage academics from engaging with applied work. In this paper we will focus instead on...

The task force has emerged as a mechanism for coordinating economic development activity in the context of the current New Labour government's emphasis upon including 'stakeholders' in 'joined-up' approaches to 'crosscutting' issues. In this paper I examine the use of task forces to organise...