IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/anresc/v74y2025i2d10.1007_s00168-025-01378-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding the role of subsectoral structure in inter-regional sectoral productivity disparities

Author

Listed:
  • Adam Brown

    (Cambridge Econometrics)

  • Jen Nelles

    (Oxford Brookes University)

  • Alexander Frost

    (Cambridge Econometrics)

  • Michalis Papazoglou

    (Oxford Brookes University)

  • Tim Vorley

    (Oxford Brookes University)

Abstract

Spatial variations in productivity across the UK continue to be a challenge. Exploring the roots of differences in productivity between places can make an important contribution to the design of policy responses. This study focuses on the inter-regional subsectoral structure and examines whether the different mix of activities that get aggregated under the sectoral headings could provide insights into the reasons for the regional productivity disparities, drawing upon employment data at the 5-digit SIC level for the English LEP areas. Our analysis reveals that subsectoral compositions can substantially determine a region’s sectoral productivity performance, offering important clues to our understanding of inter-regional disparities.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Brown & Jen Nelles & Alexander Frost & Michalis Papazoglou & Tim Vorley, 2025. "Understanding the role of subsectoral structure in inter-regional sectoral productivity disparities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 74(2), pages 1-23, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:anresc:v:74:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s00168-025-01378-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s00168-025-01378-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00168-025-01378-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00168-025-01378-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James R. Markusen, 2004. "Multinational Firms and the Theory of International Trade," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262633078, December.
    2. Evert J Meijers & Martijn J Burger, 2010. "Spatial Structure and Productivity in US Metropolitan Areas," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(6), pages 1383-1402, June.
    3. Rice, Patricia & Venables, Anthony J. & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2006. "Spatial determinants of productivity: Analysis for the regions of Great Britain," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 727-752, November.
    4. Philip Arestis, 2020. "Productivity and inequality in the UK: a political economy perspective," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 183-197, August.
    5. Pattanapong Tiwasing & Yoo Ri Kim & Temitope Akinremi, 2020. "Spatial disparities in SME productivity: evidence from the service sector in England," Regional Studies, Regional Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 589-602, January.
    6. Guadalupe Serrano & Bernardí Cabrer, 2004. "The Effect of Knowledge Spillovers on Productivity Growth Inequalities in Spanish Regions," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(4), pages 731-753, April.
    7. Bruno Bracalente & Cristiano Perugini, 2010. "The components of regional disparities in Europe," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 44(3), pages 621-645, June.
    8. Matthias Siller & Thomas Schatzer & Janette Walde & Gottfried Tappeiner, 2021. "What drives total factor productivity growth? An examination of spillover effects," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(6), pages 1129-1139, June.
    9. Philip McCann, 2020. "Perceptions of regional inequality and the geography of discontent: insights from the UK," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(2), pages 256-267, February.
    10. Arnab Bhattacharjee & Ornella Maietta & Fernanda Mazzotta, 2023. "Spatial agglomeration, innovation and firm survival for Italian manufacturing firms," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 318-345, July.
    11. Paula Prenzel & Raquel Ortega-Argilés & Claudio Cozza & Mariacristina Piva, 2018. "Interplay between regional and industrial aspects in the R&D–productivity link: evidence from Europe," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 659-672, May.
    12. Rita Almeida, 2007. "Local Economic Structure and Growth," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 65-90.
    13. Elias Giannakis & Theofanis P. Mamuneas, 2022. "Labour productivity and regional labour markets resilience in Europe," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 68(3), pages 691-712, June.
    14. Markusen, James & Gervais, Antoine & Venables, Anthony, 2021. "Urban specialisation; from sectoral to functional," CEPR Discussion Papers 15677, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Nicola Cortinovis & Frank van Oort, 2019. "Between spilling over and boiling down: network-mediated spillovers, local knowledge base and productivity in European regions," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(6), pages 1233-1260.
    16. R. I. D. Harris, 2021. "The importance of spatial differences in total factor productivity: New Zealand, 2001–16," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(7), pages 1209-1227, July.
    17. Mauro Mussini, 2019. "A spatial decomposition of the shift‐share components of labour productivity inequality in Italy," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(1), pages 283-306, February.
    18. Roberto Ezcurra & Belen Iraizoz & Pedro Pascual, 2009. "Total Factor Productivity, Efficiency, and Technological Change in the European Regions: A Nonparametric Approach," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(5), pages 1152-1170, May.
    19. Katiuscia Lavoratori & Davide Castellani, 2021. "Too close for comfort? Microgeography of agglomeration economies in the United Kingdom," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(5), pages 1002-1028, November.
    20. Emmanouil Tranos & Tasos Kitsos & Raquel Ortega-Argilés, 2021. "Digital economy in the UK: regional productivity effects of early adoption," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(12), pages 1924-1938, December.
    21. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley & Ben Gardiner & Emil Evenhuis & Peter Tyler, 2018. "The city dimension of the productivity growth puzzle: the relative role of structural change and within-sector slowdown," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 539-570.
    22. David Morris & Enrico Vanino & Carlo Corradini, 2020. "Effect of regional skill gaps and skill shortages on firm productivity," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(5), pages 933-952, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Morris & Enrico Vanino & Carlo Corradini, 2020. "Effect of regional skill gaps and skill shortages on firm productivity," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(5), pages 933-952, August.
    2. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci & Stefano Usai, 2022. "Direct and indirect effects of universities on European regional productivity," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(5), pages 1105-1133, October.
    3. Yan, Siqi & Peng, Jianchao & Wu, Qun, 2020. "Exploring the non-linear effects of city size on urban industrial land use efficiency: A spatial econometric analysis of cities in eastern China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    4. Mastrosavvas, Andreas, 2024. "Social Networks and Brexit: Evidence from a Trade Shock," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    5. David Paul Gray, 2023. "Power Laws and Inequalities: The Case of British District House Price Dispersion," Risks, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, July.
    6. Miwa Matsuo, 2014. "Competition over High-income Workers: Job Growth and Access to Labour in Atlanta," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(8), pages 1634-1652, June.
    7. Stuart Donovan & Thomas de Graaff & Henri L. F. de Groot & Carl C. Koopmans, 2024. "Unraveling urban advantages—A meta‐analysis of agglomeration economies," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 168-200, February.
    8. Jaime A. Prudencio‐Vázquez & Esteban Fernandez Marquez & Fernando Rubiera Morollón, 2022. "Productivity and agglomeration economies in the manufacturing of the metropolitan areas of Mexico, 1998–2018," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(5), pages 1188-1200, October.
    9. Peter Egger & Michael Pfaffermayr, 2004. "Foreign Direct Investment and European Integration in the 1990s," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 99-110, January.
    10. Joseph Francois & Bernard Hoekman, 2010. "Services Trade and Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 642-692, September.
    11. Badinger, Harald & Egger, Peter, 2013. "Spacey Parents and Spacey Hosts in FDI," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 154, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    12. Mohamed Amara & Khaled Thabet, 2019. "Firm and regional factors of productivity: a multilevel analysis of Tunisian manufacturing," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 63(1), pages 25-51, August.
    13. Nico van Leeuwen & Arjan Lejour, 2006. "Bilateral FDI Stocks by sector," CPB Memorandum 164, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    14. Marta Aloi & Joanna Poyago-Theotoky & Frédéric Tournemaine, 2022. "The Geography of Knowledge and R&D-led Growth [Real effects ofacademic research: comment]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 1149-1190.
    15. Kym Anderson & Anna Strutt, 2012. "Agriculture and Food Security in Asia by 2030," Macroeconomics Working Papers 23309, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    16. Xiaosi Zhang & Jizhong Shao, 2024. "Evaluation of the Suitability of Street Vending Planning in Urban Public Space in the Post-COVID-19 Era," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-26, April.
    17. Mayer, T. & Mejean, I. & Nefussi, B., 2010. "The location of domestic and foreign production affiliates by French multinational firms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 115-128, September.
    18. Jaewon Jung, 2023. "Multinational Firms and Economic Integration: The Role of Global Uncertainty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, February.
    19. Martin Henning & Hans Westlund & Kerstin Enflo, 2023. "Urban–rural population changes and spatial inequalities in Sweden," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(4), pages 878-892, May.
    20. Li, Linjie & Liu, Xiaming & Yuan, Dong & Yu, Miaojie, 2017. "Does outward FDI generate higher productivity for emerging economy MNEs? – Micro-level evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 839-854.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:anresc:v:74:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s00168-025-01378-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.