Britain on the Edge of Europe, M. Chisholm, Routledge, London (1995). vx + 182 pp. £12.99 (pbk). ISBN 0 415 11921 9. The Economics of Localized Technological Change and Industrial Dynamics. C. Antonelli, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht (1995). vii + 181 pp. £67.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 7923 2910 4....

This paper uses a stochastic frontier production function approach to measure technical efficiency in firms in Northern Ireland. Firm-level census of production panel data were used to examine how efficiency in firms changed over the period 1973-85. Once estimates of efficiency were made, the...

Labour 'flexibility' is often portrayed as important to competitive success. Using evidence from an original survey of UK firms, this paper investigates the relationships between firms' use of, on the one hand, various flexible work practices, human resource management techniques, and industrial...

The relationship between HRM and performance was explored in 366 UK companies using objective and subjective performance measures and cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Using objective measures of performance, greater use of HRM is associated with lower labour turnover and higher profit per...

This paper argues that the partition of Ireland has not only contributed to over seventy years of political instability and conflict, but has also contributed to the underdevelopment of the Irish economy, North and South. The paper examines the historical development of the Irish economy with...

This paper tests for the existence of long run inter-regional equilibrium relationships in income per capita within the UK over the period 1971-95. We examine both the cross-sectional and time-series evidence of inter-regional convergence. The time series approach allows us to investigate...

For a peace process in Ireland to succeed, it will require an active transition away from the underlying causes of conflict--not just the partition of the country but the inequalities of opportunities and employment between the communities in Northern Ireland. This requires the restructuring of...

UK Labour 'flexibility' is often portrayed as necessary for an innovative economy. Using evidence from the UK's 1990 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey we investigate the relationships between firms' human resource management practices and innovation. Our results suggest that 'low road' HRM...