This paper uses detailed industry level time-series data for the UK regions which suggests that convergence (at least in terms of output-per-employee) was not occurring during the period 1968-92. Based on testing for unit roots, it is found that in a majority of industries and regions growth was...

This paper establishes the degree to which markets are dominated by a limited number of firms, and the implications of this for the indigenous firms in each region that are attempting to sell in national markets. The author then looks at the causes of industrial concentration, which has largely...

This paper provides an update of an earlier study undertaken by one of the authors and extends the analysis by modelling the determinants of rates of return, using an appropriate cointegration based approach. A second major extension was to test formally whether rates of return have been...

Data on New Zealand manufacturing plants are used to examine the impact of trade liberalization on plant exit. Recent theories suggest that the prospect of a declining market might cause firms to adopt strategic behavior that causes low cost plants to exit first. This hypothesis is generally...

There have been few attempts to directly measure efficiency at a regional level, especially within the U.K. context. This study estimates a cross-section production function using a frontier approach and data drawn from individual firms. It therefore provides direct estimates of the inefficiency...

The Johansen approach to estimating long-run cointegration vectors is used with 1968-91 U.K. region by industry data to estimate returns to scale. Thus, this approach has the advantages of including a measure of capital, it overcomes the simultaneity problems associated with the single-equation...

Is it the case that more competitive SMEs have greater capacity to adopt environmental initiatives? The answer is no, according to this study which tried to link small firm environmental performance to factors such as profitability, growth, skills and research and development. This study focuses...

Data for the UK show Northern Ireland remains at the bottom of the productivity league table, and that its R&D performance is consistently amongst the lowest across the UK regions. This paper analyses the data from a survey of some 250 matched firms operating in Northern Ireland (approximately...