The geographical dimension of productivity in Great Britain, 2011–18: the sources of the London productivity advantage

Harris, Richard; Moffat, John

Abstract

The UK government has committed to ‘levelling up’ regional economic performance. Through deriving geographically disaggregated estimates of total factor productivity from plant-level data, we show that the productivity advantage of London is far greater than differences between other regions. Evidence is then provided on the extent to which differences in multinational ownership, trade involvement, enterprise structure, plant age, research and development, subsidization, size, and industrial structure explain the London productivity advantage. Less than half can be explained by these characteristics, which suggests that they should not be the main focus of policy to reduce spatial productivity differentials.

Citation

Harris, R., & Moffat, J. (2022). The geographical dimension of productivity in Great Britain, 2011–18: the sources of the London productivity advantage. Regional Studies, 56(10), 1713-1728. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2021.2004308

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 28, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Dec 21, 2021
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 18, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 18, 2023
• Journal: Regional Studies
• Print ISSN: 0034-3404
• Electronic ISSN: 1360-0591
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 56
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 1713-1728
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2021.2004308
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1213010