ODPM publishes Frontier's report on regional growth

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has recently published Frontier's report on the factors influencing regional growth. Frontier (London) was commissioned jointly by HM Treasury, DTI and ODPM to assist with the development of an evidence base for understanding the variation in regional economic performance. The report shows that there are significant regional disparities in the economic performance of the regions with respect to skills and education, enterprise, innovation, investment and employment, the key drivers of growth. The regions in the North tend to perform less well compared to their counterparts in the South, whereas the Midlands display a more mixed performance. A key finding from our work is the role of place-based factors in impacting on the key drivers of growth. In particular, there is a developing evidence base, in the areas of education and skills, employment and enterprise, that indicates the critical role played by place-based factors such as peer effects, neighbourhood and intergenerational effects. More research is required in this important area to establish the size of such effects and how policy can respond to them more effectively.