This article explores the role of some traditional locational factors in explaining business services concentration at the European regional level. The link between (mainly innovative) business services and income, density, the role of the service economy or qualifications, among other...

This paper reviews and analyses the rationale for an innovation policy in services. It focuses on the relevance of the various categories of market and system failures, on the basis of economic arguments and some empirical evidence at EU level. Results show that market and system failures affect...

This paper revisits the recent debate and evidence on productivity in services. Firstly, it discusses the main works analysing developments and impacts of services productivity in growth and overall productivity. Secondly, new data is presented concerning Baumol's ‘cost disease’ and the...

Business services are mainly concentrated in major urban economic areas, and affect the way in which supply and demand interact at urban level. Firstly, this article explains the corresponding impact for location and use, given a set of possible explanatory factors. Secondly, we test hypotheses...

This paper provides a critical analysis of European service research. The paper reviews the state of service research in 1991 and critically evaluates the subsequent two decades of academic research. The paper then identifies key research challenges that must be addressed over the next decade....