Jim Taylor

Bio: Jim Taylor is an academic researcher from Lancaster University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Unemployment & Higher education. The author has an hindex of 32, co-authored 115 publications receiving 3593 citations.

Regional Economics and Policy

Abstract: Regional income determination - multiplier models, input-output models regional growth disparities- neoclassical models export-led models of regional growth regional employment growth regional unemployment disparities interregional trade interregional migration the case for regional policy regional policy instruments indigenous development - small firms and technological progress regional policy in the EEC regional policy and devolution the evaluation of regional policy.

Unemployment in Europe: a comparative analysis of regional disparities in Germany, Italy and the UK

Abstract: SUMMARY This paper investigates spatial disparities in unemployment in three Member States of the EU. It attempts to identify the factors responsible for the persistence of regional unemployment disparities in Germany, Italy and the UK during 1984-94. The empirical results indicate that a substantial proportion of the variation in unemployment rates between NUTS2 level regions can be explained by regional disparities in three key variables: unit labour costs, the industry mix and employment density. The findings are consistent with the view that regional unemployment disparities are explained primarily by regional disparities in economic competitiveness. ZUSAMMENFASSUNO Dieser Artikel untersucht die raumlichen Unterschiede in der Hohe der Arbeitslosigkeit in drei Mitgliedsstaaten der EU. Er basiert auf dem Versuch, die Faktoren zu bestimmen, die im Zeitraum zwischen 1984 und 1994 fur die Persistenz von regionalen Unterschieden der Hohe der Arbeitslosigkeit in Deutschland, Italien und Grossbritannien verantwortlich waren. Die empirischen Ergeb-nisse zeigen, dass ein wesentlicher Teil der Unterschiede in der Hohe der Arbeitslosigkeit zwischen NUTS2 Regionen durch eine regional unterschiedliche Auspragung von drei wichtigen Variablen erklart werden kann: Lohnstuckkosten, Wirtschaftsstruktur und Zahl der Arbeitsplatze pro Quadratkilometer. Die Ergebnisse bestatigen die Ansicht, dass die regional unterschiedlich hohe Arbeitslosigkeit hauptsachlich durch Unterschiede der regionalen Wettbewerbsfahigkeit zu cr-kluren ist. RESUME Ce document examine les disparites geographiques du chomage dans trois Etats membres de l'Union Europeenne. Nous essayerons d'identifier les facteurs responsables de la persistance des disparites en chomage regional en Ailemagne, en Italie el au Royaume-Uni pendant la periode 1984-94. Les resultats empiriques indiquent qu'une proportion importante de la variation du taux de chomage entre les regions de la categorie NUTS2 peut s'expliquer par des disparites regionales en trois variables preponderantes: le cout unitaire d'emploi, la structure industrielle et la densite d'emploi. Les resultats coincident avec l'avis que les disparites du chomage regional s'expliquent surtout par les disparites regionales en competitiviteeconomique.

The effect of the quasi-market on the efficiency-equity trade-off in the secondary school sector

Abstract: Britain’s education system was radically transformed during the 1990s following the Education Reform Act (1988). The primary objective of these reforms was to raise educational standards through the creation of a quasi–market based upon greater parental choice and the transfer of control over resources from local education authorities to schools. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the quasi–market on efficiency and equity in the secondary education sector in England during the 1990s. Two primary questions are addressed. Has the quasi–market led to an improvement in efficiency in the secondary education sector? Has the quasi–market had any adverse consequences on the social segregation of pupils between schools? Using data obtained from the Schools’ Census and the School Performance Tables, we find strong evidence that the quasi–market has led to a substantial improvement in efficiency (as measured by a school’s exam performance and by the productivity of staff) during the 1990s. The same market forces have led to a greater social segregation of pupils between schools.

Regional Economics and Policy, 3rd Edition

Abstract: Harvey Armstrong is Professor of Economic Geography at Sheffield University. He has previously worked at Loughborough University and Lancaster University and has held a visiting appointment at the University of British Columbia. He has published extensively in the areas of regional policy, European regional disparities, local economic development policy and the economic performance of world micro-states and dependent territories.

The Assessment of Research Quality in UK Universities: Peer Review or Metrics?

Abstract: This paper investigates the extent to which the outcomes of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise in the UK, determined by peer review, can be explained by a set of quantitative indicators. Three cognate units of assessment are examined in detail: business and management, economics and econometrics, and accounting and finance. The main finding is that each of the three components of research activity (namely, research output, esteem and research environment) is highly correlated with various quantitative indicators. A further finding is that the judgement of the Research Assessment Exercise panels was biased in favour of Russell Group universities. There is also evidence of bias by the economics and econometrics panel. The results support the use of quantitative indicators in the research assessment process, particularly a journal quality index. Requiring the panels to take bibliometric indicators into account should help not only to reduce the workload of panels but also to mitigate the problem of implicit bias.

Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement

Abstract: Preface Chapter 1 The challenge Chapter 2 The nature of the evidence: A synthesis of meta-analyses Chapter 3 The argument: Visible teaching and visible learning Chapter 4: The contributions from the student Chapter 5 The contributions from the home Chapter 6 The contributions from the school Chapter 7 The contributions from the teacher Chapter 8 The contributions from the curricula Chapter 9 The contributions from teaching approaches - I Chapter 10 The contributions from teaching approaches - II Chapter 11: Bringing it all together Appendix A: The 800 meta-analyses Appendix B: The meta-analyses by rank order References

A Treatise on the Family

Abstract: A Treatise on the Family. G. S. Becker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1981. Gary Becker is one of the most famous and influential economists of the second half of the 20th century, a fervent contributor to and expounder of the University of Chicago free-market philosophy, and winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in economics. Although any book with the word "treatise" in its title is clearly intended to have an impact, one coming from someone as brilliant and controversial as Becker certainly had such a lofty goal. It has received many article-length reviews in several disciplines (Ben-Porath, 1982; Bergmann, 1995; Foster, 1993; Hannan, 1982), which is one measure of its scholarly importance, and yet its impact is, I think, less than it may have initially appeared, especially for scholars with substantive interests in the family. This book is, its title notwithstanding, more about economics and the economic approach to behavior than about the family. In the first sentence of the preface, Becker writes "In this book, I develop an economic or rational choice approach to the family." Lest anyone accuse him of focusing on traditional (i.e., material) economics topics, such as family income, poverty, and labor supply, he immediately emphasizes that those topics are not his focus. "My intent is more ambitious: to analyze marriage, births, divorce, division of labor in households, prestige, and other non-material behavior with the tools and framework developed for material behavior." Indeed, the book includes chapters on many of these issues. One chapter examines the principles of the efficient division of labor in households, three analyze marriage and divorce, three analyze various child-related issues (fertility and intergenerational mobility), and others focus on broader family issues, such as intrafamily resource allocation. His analysis is not, he believes, constrained by time or place. His intention is "to present a comprehensive analysis that is applicable, at least in part, to families in the past as well as the present, in primitive as well as modern societies, and in Eastern as well as Western cultures." His tone is profoundly conservative and utterly skeptical of any constructive role for government programs. There is a clear sense of how much better things were in the old days of a genderbased division of labor and low market-work rates for married women. Indeed, Becker is ready and able to show in Chapter 2 that such a state of affairs was efficient and induced not by market or societal discrimination (although he allows that it might exist) but by small underlying household productivity differences that arise primarily from what he refers to as "complementarities" between caring for young children while carrying another to term. Most family scholars would probably find that an unconvincingly simple explanation for a profound and complex phenomenon. What, then, is the salient contribution of Treatise on the Family? It is not literally the idea that economics could be applied to the nonmarket sector and to family life because Becker had already established that with considerable success and influence. At its core, microeconomics is simple, characterized by a belief in the importance of prices and markets, the role of self-interested or rational behavior, and, somewhat less centrally, the stability of preferences. It was Becker's singular and invaluable contribution to appreciate that the behaviors potentially amenable to the economic approach were not limited to phenomenon with explicit monetary prices and formal markets. Indeed, during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, he did undeniably important and pioneering work extending the domain of economics to such topics as labor market discrimination, fertility, crime, human capital, household production, and the allocation of time. Nor is Becker's contribution the detailed analyses themselves. Many of them are, frankly, odd, idiosyncratic, and off-putting. …

Location and the Multinational Enterprise: A Neglected Factor?

Abstract: This article first traces the changing world economic scenario for international business over the past two decades, and then goes on to examine its implications for the location of foreign direct investment and multinational enterprise activity. It suggests that many of the explanations of the 1970s and early 1980s need to be modified as firm-specific assets have become mobile across natural boundaries. A final section of the article examines the dynamic interface between the value-added activities of multinational enterprises in different locations.

The Economic Performance of Regions

Abstract: P ORTER M. E. (2003) The economic performance of regions, Reg. Studies 37 , 549-578. This paper examines the basic facts about the regional economic performance, the composition of regional economies and the role of clusters in the US economy over period of 1990 to 2000. The performance of regional economies varies markedly in terms of wage, wage growth, employment growth and patenting rate. Based on the distribution of economic activity across geography, we classify US industries into traded, local and resource-dependent. Traded industries account for only about one-third of employment but register much higher wages, far higher rates of innovation and influence local wages. We delineate clusters of traded industries using co-location patterns across US regions. The mix of clusters differs markedly across regions. The performance of regional economies is strongly influenced by the strength of local clusters and the vitality and plurality of innovation. Regional wage differences are dominated by the relati...