Productivity differences in the UK have been increasing for some 35 years. For instance, London’s productivity is more than one and a half times the UK average, while the regional productivity divergence in the UK is among the most extreme of all OECD countries.
There is a growing realisation that England’s governance is characterised by some very distinctive pathologies and problems, including an unusually centralised governance model, which might well have played a key role in constraining the economic prospects of England’s second-tier cities and their hinterlands.
It is increasingly accepted that establishing new forms of governing authority and capacity at levels beneath the central state can generate a range of social and civic benefits, but more consideration is needed into what kinds of capability and expertise are needed from increased devolution.
The paper also includes a number of policy implications.
Authors: Michael Kenny (University of Cambridge), Philip McCann (The University of Manchester), Raquel Ortega-Argilés (The University of Manchester), Andrew Westwood (The University of Manchester)
