Which Sectors Drive Regional Economic Development? Changes in Employment in Knowledge-based and Consumption-based Sectors and Regional Economic Performance

Abstract

Despite increasing as a proportion of economic activity, the role of consumption in regional economic development does not feature highly in associated policies or debates. Instead, the focus is on the promotion of innovative activity and knowledge assets. Using NUTS 3 level data, this paper examines the changing level of employment in consumption-based and knowledge-based sectors in order to assess the contribution of each to regional economic development.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the editors of Local Economy and two anonymous referees for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. All the usual disclaimers apply and any mistakes remain my own.

Notes

¹ Nomenclatures of Territorial Units for Statistics, or NUTS regions, are standard administrative areas of the European Union. In terms of a hierarchy of NUTS regions, the larger the number the smaller the region, thus the UK is comprised of 12 NUTS 1 regions, 37 NUTS 2 regions and 133 NUTS 3 regions.