Knowledge networks are now recognised as a crucial element underlying the economic success and competitiveness of geographic locations, in particular regions. The aim of this paper is to assess the types of knowledge networks utilised and formed by knowledge-based small- and medium-sized...

The paper investigates the broadening area of research utilizing micro-geographic economic analysis to conduct evaluations of area-based policies implemented at a micro-geographic level. It offers the first extensive, critical examination and synthesis of this subset of work including its...

Over the last twenty years, and particularly in the last ten, there has been a growing amount of economic and policy research conducted at a micro-geographic scale. This trend reflects both the continuing popularity of targeted spatial policies and the availability of new data and techniques to...

This paper examines the impact of employment density (agglomeration) on the hourly earnings of workers across districts of Great Britain. The potentially two-way causality between agglomeration and productivity is dealt with using two instruments: the total land area of a district and its...

This paper examines how the concept of industrial district, widely recognised as an Italian construct, took shape. It assesses to what extent the concept was tailored to fit the peculiar trait of the Italian economic development, as is claimed by some international authors, and to what extent it...

The author reviews and examines the relevant literature concerning the role that networks have played in the local economic development activities of Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs). The analysis focuses on TECs as actors within, and catalysts of, networks -- specifically at the local...

This paper investigates awareness among Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) and firms in the UK of inter-firm networking, and the effectiveness of the instruments used by TECs to generate networking. It evaluates the consequential outputs of and barriers to networking, the level of...

The academic discussion of business co-operation and networks is often undertaken in fairly abstract terms. The objective of this paper is to add some realism through “on-the-ground” examples of inter-firm networks in which Training and Enterprise Councils (TECS) have acted in a facilitating...

The objective of this paper is to review, from a TEC perspective, the effect of changing Conservative Government policies in the 1990s, such as the introduction of Business Links, on local economic development strategies. The paper focuses on the effects of the Government's attempt to vest in...