The Lisbon Strategy gave a central role to human investment in the realisation of the objective for the European Union to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economic area with social inclusion in the world. Moreover, the Lisbon process introduced the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) intended to facilitate policy learning between member states in a number of areas of public policy, including human investment, by means of benchmarking and establishment of best practice. This raises a pressing question for European policy makers: How do we conceptualise and operationalise human investment for the purposes of the OMC and the Lisbon process? It is to this question that the thesis attempts to provide an answer. In so doing, the thesis develops a conceptualisation of human investment that takes account of the changing nature of human investment provision occurring as part of the wider socio-economic changes of the New Economy. The changing nature of human investment is captured in a framework of lifelong learning, with a number of new dimensions to human investment provision. On the basis of the conceptual framework, a number of variables are specified. After having taken stock of available data sources, statistical indicators are, in as far as possible, identified for each of the specified variables. The thesis then goes on to explore the picture of human investment provision in the European Union emerging from these indicators, with particular emphasis on how this picture differs from the findings arrived at from more traditional indicators of human investment. The thesis concludes by discussing the implications of the study for the measurement and analysis of human investment. In addition, the thesis explores wider implications for the use of benchmarking as a tool in economic and social policy, the OMC and the Lisbon Strategy.

This thesis investigates the causal impact of research and development as the driver to the growth for a sample of 11 OECD countries over the period of 1980-2014. The R&D-driven growth hypothesis is embedded within a calibrated dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model to be tested via Indirect Inference simulationbased method of testing and evaluation; the method which relies on the comparison between the features of the model-generated and actual data through the auxiliary model. This method ensures the identification of the DSGE model hence there is no ambiguity in defining the direction of the causation in the model which comes from the R&D spending to productivity growth. The parameters of interest are also estimated using ‘simulated annealing’ algorithm and the parameter-modified model is tested by Indirect Inference Wald. The test results for the specified model satisfies the non-rejection condition where the relevant statistic lies within the 95% confidence interval. This thesis suggests an explicit empirical evidence that for the small open economies of OECD, the R&D spendings as a proxy for innovative activities causes a long-run growth episodes.

The enhancement of economic performance constitutes the main goal in the economic transformation process in Eastern Europe. This may be revealed by changes in the levels of efficiency achieved in the operation of privatized enterprises. In this thesis we provide an empirical analysis of technical efficiency in the former CSR, and in the Czech Republic, over the period 1960 to 1989 and 1990 to 1994 respectively. Empirical investigation into sector or firm level efficiency in the Czech Republic has been sparse following privatization. Thus, we sought to determine the extent of the success of privatization of former state-owned enterprises, as reflected by the extent to which technical efficiency (TE) has improved in the manufacturing sector following the implementation of mass privatization. Deterministic production functions (DFPF) and stochastic production functions (SFPF) were employed to estimate TE attained in selected sectors of the manufacturing sector of the Czech Republic. The SFPF model was also employed since it was anticipated that the use of dummy variables that were produced by the deterministic model would possibly capture macroeconomic events and other external factors that impacted on TE. Further, we recognized that the composed error term, in the possibly more sophisticated SFPF, would encapsulate the effect of random variables and other non-quantifiable factors that were excluded by the deterministic model. It is emphasized that despite the wide divergencies of techniques employed in both the DFPF and SFPF models, a similar pattern of increased TE is revealed in the manufacturing sector during the early transition period in the Czech Republic: this had remained a "pure" example of a former command economy until the demise of communism in November 1989. Although we recognize that extraneous factors also influenced TE, nevertheless, these results provide support to the view held widely by economists that a clear relationship exists between ownership, corporate governance, and enterprise efficiency.

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This thesis examines the implications of the alleged rise of the `knowledge economy' for regional economic change in Europe. In particular, it is concerned with `postindustrial' trajectories of less-favoured regions, in both the Western and Eastern parts of the `New Europe'. In doing so, the thesis critically engages with the `new regionalism' economic geography approaches that draw on institutional/evolutionary economics, and on the `knowledge economy' or 'learning economy' discourses. These approaches invariably identify localised forms of knowledge production and learning and various supporting institutions as key factors behind regional prosperity. Considered as the most important organisational units of contemporary global knowledge-intensive capitalism, economically successful regions are understood as `learning regions' acting as collectors and repositories of knowledge, and displaying the ability to learn and innovate, while being supported by regional `institutional thickness'. Less-favoured regions are themselves claimed to have a capacity to improve their own economic fortunes by becoming `learning regions'. These claims are exposed to a theoretical scrutiny that reveals serious conceptual weaknesses in the `knowledge economy' and `learning region' paradigms and the thesis suggests an alternative conceptualisation of regional economic change. This alternative conceptualisation places emphasis on the `socio-spatial divisions of labour' and the accompanying `socio-spatial value chains/networks' as a useful prism through which increasingly uneven regional development in Europe can be understood. The case studies of two former industrial region-states are then presented - one in the `Western' periphery (Scotland) and one in the `Eastern' post-socialist periphery (Slovakia) of the `New Europe' - both attempting a transformation to the high value-added `knowledge-based' economy. The empirical evidence supports the view that, although institutions can play an important role in economic development of regions, their room for manoeuvre is nevertheless significantly constrained by their own historical legacies and the wider neo-liberal political economy.

This dissertation examines the extent to which proximity to markets - as measured by market potential, the trade cost-weighted sum of surrounding regions’ GDP - can explain late-nineteenth century Europe’s regional per capita income differentials. The research questions are: (1) was the spatial distribution of regional income random; (2) how helpful are traditional explanations - coal and institutions - of regional income; (3) how helpful is market potential when controlling for traditional explanations; and (4) did market potential have an effect on other determinants of income? This dissertation finds that: (1) the distribution of regional per capita income increasingly concentrated in the northwest; that there was little tendency to income convergence; and regional inequalities were higher within than between countries; (2) while a measure of regional institutions is correlated with income, simple distance-to-coal and a cost-to-coal measures are not; (3) market potential has a significant effect on income; foreign market potential more so than domestic; and increasing core relative to peripheral market potential results in perpherial income losses; and (4) changes in literacy rates, a proxy for human capital, responded to changes in market potential. In conclusion, a new economic geography framework with market potential at its core fits the historical experience well. Certain regions performed better than others generally because they had cheaper access to markets. At the start of the period, trade costs were high, and so economic activity - long concentrated in Britain - was spread out more or less evenly across the Continent. By the end of the period, when trade costs dropped dramatically, economic activity concentrated in the northwest of Europe at the cost of the periphery.

In this dissertation I assess some of the effects for the early modern European economy which resulted from the large-scale discovery and exploitation of precious metals in the New World. I argue that the monetary injections which were a direct result of the increased precious metals availability were an important cause of stimulus for several early modern European economies. The thesis mainly consists of three papers. In the first paper I argue variation in production of precious metals in America can be helpful to identifying the causal effects of money in a macroeconomic setting. Using a panel of six European countries for the period 1531-1790, I find strong reduced-form evidence in favor of non-neutrality of money for changes in real economic activity. The magnitudes are substantial and persist for a long time: an exogenous 10% increase in production of precious metals in America leads to a hump-shaped positive response of real GDP, peaking at an average increase of 1.3% four years later. The evidence suggests this is because prices responded to monetary injections only with considerable lags. The following two chapters are focused on different aspects of the measurement and analysis of the causal effects of the monetary injections for the English economy. In the second paper, I put forward new data on annual coin supply for England over the long run. This is offered not only as a data construction exercise within the specific context of England, but also as a methodological contribution which in principle can be reproduced for some other countries. Finally, in the third paper, I present a historical discussion of the long-term effects of the early modern monetary injections in the context of the English economy. I show the increased availability of precious metals led to liquidity injections which matter for our understanding of the English industrious, industrial, and financial revolutions during early modern period.

The thesis investigates how political actors remade key aspects of Europe’s economic landscape after World Wars I and II. The first and the second case deal with the borders of the Polish state; the third case investigates German reparations after World War I; the fourth case looks at the internal processes of the American administration in dealing with Germany’s reconstruction after World War II. The thesis argues that actors remade Europe’s economy by using cognitive artefacts, such as cartographic maps, statistical tables or accounting procedures. Because cognitive artefacts are explicit where written and spoken statements are vague, they complement and expand the textual and verbal record. One of the consequences is that we gain a different perspective of the performance of political actors, which leads to a re-evaluation of diplomacy after World War I. It has received a largely negative appraisal so far. That seems rather disproportionate if due consideration is given to cognitive artefacts. Moreover, the analysis of cognitive artefacts shows that the results actors achieved, were not solely outcomes of rationality or policy discourse. Actors used maps, statistical tables etc to develop jointly ad hoc ways of reasoning that were synthetic, open-ended and considerably nuanced. Therefore, the thesis proposes cognitive artefacts as an analytical framework for political agency. By producing, circulating, rejecting and modifying them in an iterative process, actors identify and structure their individual and their joint agency. As actors go through this process, their cooperation as well their noncooperation take shape. In using cognitive artefacts, actors are at the same time aligning and legitimising their agency. That involves persuasion, coercion and deceit, but not necessarily shared views.

This thesis is an investigation of Britain’s negotiations of its EU budget rebate. It attempts to answer the main question of why Britain decided to reduce its rebate in the 2005 financial negotiation for the financial perspective for 2007-2013, instead of defending the rebate. What motivated Britain’s behaviours in the rebate negotiations? Drawing upon European integration theories, particularly Liberal Intergovernmentalism (LI), this thesis challenges LI’s lack of explanation of the role of domestic political parties in shaping the formation of a national preference, member states’ behaviours in inter-state bargaining, and the role of the presidency of the Council in EU institutions. This thesis emphasises the role of domestic political parties in shaping member states’ approach on European integration which affects member states’ behaviours within decision-making. In Britain, the governing parties’ ideologies are not only a lens to evaluate European integration but also bring about intra-party factions and cross-party factions in shaping Britain’s approach. In contrast to LI’s explanation of member states’ behaviours, this thesis adopts the constructivists’ argument of a ‘logic of expected consequentialism’ and a ‘logic of appropriateness’ in order to explain Britain’s behaviours in financial negotiations and argues that the governing party’s attitude is a decisive factor for Britain in choosing its behaviour from the two logics above. In addition, with regard to the debate between rational choice institutionalists and sociological institutionalists on the role of the presidency of the Council in EU decision-making, Britain is able to choose its behaviour in the role of the presidency as decided by the governing party’s approach. When Britain has pro-European approach and its preferences are a central issue in blocking a financial agreement, it may be that the UK presidency’s appropriate behaviour makes extraordinary concessions on their preferences to secure deals that will enhance their reputation as presidency. Since the time of Britain’s initial membership negotiations, this behavioural logic has been evident in the EU’s budgetary decision-making. In the 2005 financial negotiation, the UK presidency’s pro-European approach recognized that its rebate was a central issue in blocking the negotiation. Consequently, after lengthy and difficult negotiations, the UK presidency decided to make a concession about the reduction of the rebate in order to achieve the financial agreement.

In this thesis we study the effect of scientific research on economic growth of the EU27 countries for 1981-2010, finding that scientific research determines national growth through patents with a ten-year lag. We also study the effect of funding on scientific research output of researchers and find that national competitive funding and other funding are positively and significantly related to research quality. National competitive funding seems to affect positively research quantity. Internal and EU funding matter only in specific scientific fields. We investigate whether past research productivity determines success in securing competitive funding at the individual level finding a significant and positive association of past cumulative citation-related indicators with the funding decision. We also examine the effect of research output and resources on FP7 applications and success at the country level for the EU28 countries in 2007-2013. We find that for research followers both scientific publications and international collaboration matter for FP7 applications and success and for research leaders, publications matter for FP7 applications and citations matter for FP7 success rates. Finally, we use the principal-agent theory framework to discuss the choices and trade-offs that research policy-makers and researchers face and find that balance in bureaucracy and research orientation within funding schemes can produce optimal results.