The city dimension of the productivity growth puzzle: the relative role of structural change and within-sector slowdown

Abstract

This research for this paper was undertaken as part of a project funded by the ESRC (ES/N006135/1) into Structural Transformation, Adaptability and City Economic Evolutions, as part of its Structural Transformations Programme. We are grateful to the ESRC for its support. The full team on the project also includes David Bailey (Aston Business School, UK) and Andy Pike (Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, Newcastle University, UK). Their support for this paper is also gratefully acknowledged. We are also indebted to three anonymous referees for their perceptive and constructive comments on an earlier version of the paper: their reports proved very helpful in sharpening and clarifying the paper's aims, arguments and narrative.

Triple Helix and the evolution of ecosystems of innovation: the case of Silicon Valley

“…Although the Triple Helix model is sometimes interpreted to depict a rather static scheme, with each actor in their respective corner in lagging European regions (Martin et al 2018) the overlapping movements between the three spheres-or helixes-indicate a dynamic process leading to different configurations. Each helix has an internal core and an external field space, drawing two parallel dimensions that expand simultaneously (Etzkowitz and Zhou 2007).…”

Introduction to Productivity Perspectives

“…However, at the same time, the rate of productivity growth slowed across almost all cities between these two periods. This research also demonstrates that there is evidence of considerable structural convergence across cities and a general tendency for the degree of specialisation of cities to fall (Martin et al 2018).…”

“…The gap in skills, as proxied by highly qualified workers, is the indicator which mirrors the performance gap most closely, while measures of investment, agglomeration and research-innovation also show persistent gaps between the North and its comparators. The chapter demonstrates that the results of recent research (Martin et al 2018(Martin et al , 2019 show that Northern cities led productivity growth over 1971-91; Southern cities then led after 1991. However, at the same time, the rate of productivity growth slowed across almost all cities between these two periods.…”

“…Yet, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on workplace social dynamics and performance outcomes. If we consider the effects on productivity of job quality, job sustainability and the decent work agenda, the recent Taylor Review of Meanwhile, structural change, and especially the shift from manufacturing to services, is shown to have had a negative impact on productivity growth across almost all UK cities (Martin et al 2018), whereas within-sector productivity developments, while being positive and outweighing structural change effects, have also declined over the past 45 years, as well as varying across cities (Martin et al 2018).…”

In search of the skilled city: Skills and the occupational evolution of British cities

“…In this paper we examine employment growth but in an accompanying paper we focus in detail on the determinants of city productivity growth in the UK (seeMartin et al, 2018). 7 This is defined as= ∑ = 1 | - * |where is industry ′ s share of city ′ s total employment, and * is that industry ' s share…”