Structural funds and the knowledge-based economy:a regional case-study (1999-2009)

The research presented in this thesis investigates the nature of the relationship between the development of the Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE) and Structural Funds (SF) in European regions. A particular focus is placed on the West Midlands (UK) and Silesia (Poland). The time-frame taken into account in this research is the years 1999 to 2009. This is methodologically addressed by firstly establishing a new way of calculating the General Index of the KBE for all of the EU regions; secondly, applying a number of statistical methods to measure the influence of the Funds on the changes in the regional KBE over time; and finally, by conducting a series of semi-structured stakeholder interviews in the two key case study regions: the West Midlands and Silesia. The three main findings of the thesis are: first, over the examined time-frame, the values of the KBE General Index increased in over 66% of the EU regions; furthermore, the number of the “new” EU regions in which the KBE increased over time is far higher than in the “old” EU. Second, any impact of Structural Funds on the regional KBE occurs only in the minority of the European regions and any form of functional dependency between the two can be observed only in 30% of the regions. Third, although the pattern of development of the regional KBE and the correlation coefficients differ in the cases of Silesia and the West Midlands, the analysis of variance carried out yields identical results for both regions. Furthermore, the qualitative analysis’ results show similarities in the approach towards the Structural Funds in the two key case-study regions.

New business formation in a rapidly growing economy: The Irish experience

The extraordinary growth of the Irish economy since the mid-1990s - the 'Celtic Tiger' - has attracted a great deal of interest, commentary and research. Indeed, many countries look to Ireland as an economic development role model, and it has been suggested that Ireland might provide key lessons for other EU members as they seek to achieve the objectives set out in the Lisbon Agenda. Much of the discussion of Ireland's growth has focused on its possible triggers: the long term consequences of the late 1980s fiscal stabilisation; EU structural funds; education; wage moderation; and devaluation of the Irish punt. The industrial policy perspective has highlighted the importance of inflows of foreign direct investment, but a notable absence from the discourse on the 'Celtic Tiger' has been any mention of the role of new business venture creation and entrepreneurship. In this paper we use unpublished Irish VAT data for the years 1988 to 2004 to provide the first detailed look at national trends in business birth and death rates in Ireland over the 'take-off' period. We also use sub-national VAT data to shed light on spatial trends in new venture creation. Our overall conclusions are that new business formation made no detectable contribution to the acceleration of Ireland's growth in the late 1990s, although we do find evidence of spatial convergence in per capita business stocks.

New business formation in a rapidly growing economy:the Irish experience

The extraordinary growth of the Irish economy since the mid-1990s—the ‘Celtic Tiger’—has attracted a great deal of interest, commentary and research. Indeed, many countries look to Ireland as an economic development role model, and it has been suggested that Ireland might provide key lessons for other EU members as they seek to achieve the objectives set out in the Lisbon Agenda. Much of the discussion of Ireland’s growth has focused on its possible triggers: the long-term consequences of the late 1980s fiscal stabilisation, EU structural funds, education, wage moderation and devaluation of the Irish punt. The industrial policy perspective has highlighted the importance of inflows of foreign direct investment, but a notable absence from the discourse on the ‘Celtic Tiger’ has been any mention of the role of new business venture creation and entrepreneurship. In this paper we use unpublished Irish VAT data for the years 1988–2004 to provide the first detailed look at national trends in business birth and death rates in Ireland over the ‘take-off’ period. We also use sub-national VAT data to shed light on spatial trends in new venture creation. Our overall conclusions are that new business formation made no detectable contribution to the acceleration of Ireland’s growth in the late 1990s, although we do find evidence of spatial convergence in per capita business stocks.