Regionalisation, regional institutions end economic development

Recent claims that regional government structures are crucial to regional economic competitiveness are controversial. This article summarises the economic arguments for regional government and assesses how far British policy-malting on economic development has become regionalised. It examines links between regional institutional capacity and regional economic performance in Britain, commenting in detail upon the experiences of four British regions. The penultimate section suggests the common allegation that Britain is out of step with its European Union partners in terms of regional structures and support for regional economic development is overdrawn. The final section argues that regional government is by no means a proven economic necessity.