This paper investigates the impact of the specialist schools programme in England on examination performance at age 16. Two approaches are used. The first uses pupil-level data from the 2003 National Pupil Database. The second uses panel data methods and is based on time-series data for...

This paper investigates spatial disparities in unemployment in three member states of the European Union. It attempts to identify the factors responsible for the persistence of regional unemployment disparities in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom during 1984-94. The empirical results...

The paper examines the changing regional specialization of U.K. employment over the period 1971-94, analyzing the extent to which U.K. regional policy has altered the industrial structure of the Assisted Area regions, making them less vulnerable to economic change. All regional economies are...

BRADLEY S. and TAYLOR J. (1996) Human capital formation and local economic performance, Reg. Studies, 30, 1-14. This paper is concerned with the interaction between the vocational education and training system (VET) and local economic performance in Britain. After briefly discussing the...