This thesis examines the development of policy towards the creative industries in the UK in the period 1997-2008. It argues that this can be seen in the light of New Labour's understanding of the knowledge economy, an understanding that influenced its development of education and social policy, as well as economic policy. It thus provides a unique insight into New Labour politics in general. The thesis asserts that New Labour's account of the knowledge economy was a deterministic one, which took its cue from what it believed to be long-term social and economic trends. In this, it is consistent with other critiques of New Labour politics, which argue that it can be seen as a development of prevailing neoliberal ideas (Hay 1999; Thompson 2002; Finlayson 2003; Clarke 2004); but in this case, I argue, it is a variety of neoliberalism that is heavily influenced by institutionalism (Bevir 2005). The importance of institutionalist ideas can be seen in the emphasis in creative industries policy on networks, characterised by social and ethical norms, as opposed to a neoliberal focus purely on marketisation. New Labour produced an essentially benign account of the knowledge economy; the creative industries were capable of producing 'good work', which offered opportunities for highly skilled labour. In addition, because of its links to popular culture, they could offer inclusion through work, for those deemed socially excluded. I argue that this account continued throughout the period under examination, despite mounting evidence, discussed in several of the publications below, that the creative industries produce labour markets that are highly unequal in terms of race and class. It is in attitudes to the labour market that the failures of New Labour's creative industries policy can be seen most sharply. The roots of that failure, and what it tells us about New Labour's creative industries policy, is the subject of the thesis.

Logistics and Supply Chain Management, as the 'last frontier' for firm's cost reduction potential, have been heatedly discussed since half a century ago (Drucker, 1962). In recent years, logistics and supply chain management have emerged as key business concerns and moved much higher up the agenda in organisations in every industry and sector (Christopher, 2005). Adequate and reliable supply is the key to success of not only battles in war, but also equally intense battles in the business arena.

This thesis investigates whether government policy had a causal impact on UK output and productivity growth between 1970 and 2009. Two policy-driven growth hypotheses are considered: first that productivity growth is systematically determined by the tax and regulatory environment in which firms start up and operate, and second that productivity is determined by direct subsidies to business R&D. Each growth hypothesis is embedded within an open economy Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model calibrated to the UK experience; the agents optimality conditions imply a reduced form linear relationship between policy and short-run productivity growth. Each model is tested by an Indirect Inference Wald Test, a simulation-based test which formally compares the data generated from the model with the observed data, using an unrestricted auxiliary model; the method has good power against general miss -speciation. Identi�fication is assured for the DSGE model by the rational expectations restrictions; therefore the direction of causation in the model is unambiguously from policy to productivity. Both models are also estimated by Indirect Inference. Estimation results show that the tax and regulatory policy environment did have a causal effect on productivity and output in the 1970-2009 period, when policy is proxied by an index combining top marginal income tax rates and a labour market regulation indicator. The results are robust to changes in this proxy. Likewise, the hypothesis that productivity is driven by direct subsidies to business R&D is upheld in a 1981-2010 sample, though the results are weaker. This study offers unambiguous empirical evidence that temporary changes in policies underpinning the business environment can have long-lasting effects on economic growth.

The ‘Great Recession’ has brought about a justified critique of the neoclassical economic model. It is within the context of this shock to the mainstream that the economic orthodoxy can be queried. The calls for a new economic paradigm request the mainstream’s acceptance of heterodox ideas creating a pluralist approach to economic theory, research and teaching. Following the shock of the financial crisis, UK government economic institutions indeed appear more pluralist than before the crisis. The Bank of England’s One Bank Research Agenda (2015) aims to remove its institutional ‘group think’ to incorporate different economic perspectives to better allow its efficient monitoring of the UK economy. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have embraced pluralist economics, Senior Ministerial Advisors within HMRC learn Behavioural Economics, the work of Hyman Minsky, Jesus de Soto and Fredrich Hayek alongside neoclassical economics and fiscal sociology to gain a thorough understanding of economic phenomena. Andy Haldane, Director of Financial Stability at the Bank of England, has called for a pluralist economic methodology and in 2010, Conservative MPs proposed a Financial Services Bill based on the work of Hayek. Given this willingness for Policy at least to accept a pluralist economic approach, alternative economic theories must be evaluated to determine their relevance. Calls for a pluralist economic paradigm do not simply seek to replace one orthodoxy with another or indeed abandon entirely neoclassical economics. A pluralist economic paradigm is one where numerous explanations of economic phenomena are considered and policy is based on the most appropriate rather than the default. The thesis contributes to knowledge by providing an evaluation of Hayek’s theory of the trade cycle using a testable model and both reduced form and structural analysis, this is the first time this has been explicitly done addressing the shortfall in the literature identified in Kuehn (2013). Furthermore the thesis provides a consideration of the relevance of Hayek’s theory of the trade cycle for the UK addressing this gap in the Austrian Empirical Literature. The chosen analysis of a variety of models and tests also contributes to the Austrian methodological literature providing a comprehensive approach to the evaluation of Hayek’s theory. The UK data used for the empirical evaluation does not feature in any of the reviewed literature and thus its use represents a further contribution toward the UK gap in the Austrian Econometric Literature. An empirical evaluation of Hayek’s theory of the trade cycle using UK timeseries data contributes to the pluralist debate by determining the relevance of the theory for future policy consideration. A testable model of Hayek’s theory is developed and examined with various econometric tests to determine the support present in the data. Primarily Vector-Auto Regression, Vector Error Correction and Granger Causality Tests were used in the evaluation alongside Finite-Distributed Lag Models and an initial statistical evaluation of the theory and data. Within the calls for pluralism all empirical evaluation is conducted in a manner acceptable to the majority of Hayekian economists, yet utilising standard econometric tests to provide a persuasive and universally accessible evaluation of the theory. Whilst some evidence for Hayek’s theory of the trade cycle is found, the results show strong support for individual components of the theory, but limited support for the central tenet of the Theory, that of the unsustainable boom sowing the seeds of its own destruction. Yet, evidence is found for the predicted effects of the interest rate and of predicted endogenous turning points in the data, which are seen by several Austrian economists to be unique features of Hayek’s theory. A replication study of a key empirical study supporting Hayek’s theory with US timeseries data is also conducted with UK data, finding less support for the theory than its US counterpart. Given the calls for a pluralist economic paradigm, perhaps it is time to isolate the valid components of Hayek’s theory and incorporate them with other heterodox and orthodox theories. After all a true pluralist paradigm does not mean the primacy of a single approach.

This Thesis examines the determinants of corporate capital structure during a period characterised by significant changes in the overall economic conditions. Empirical studies of capital structure generally concentrate on identifying the firm-specific factors that managers should consider in making capital structure decisions, while ignoring the possible implications of the overall economic conditions that could affect the firms’ financing decisions. Given that the 2007 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was accompanied by an economic recession, this provides a unique opportunity to investigate the impact of the overall economic conditions on firm’s capital structure. There have been a number of unique factors to the 2007 GFC and the following economic recession that are not observed in previous economic downturns in the UK. These include near-zero interest rate (which was reduced by the Bank of England from a pre-crisis peak of 5.75% in July 2007 to 0.5% in March 2009), the extraordinary level of support to the troubled firms offered by the government (e.g., the Business Payment Support Service; the Asset Protection Scheme; and the Funding for Lending Scheme), and the unprecedented banks’ forbearances on non-performing loans (e.g., granting waivers to breaches of pre-agreed loan covenants; switching to an interest-only loans; offering payment holidays; and rolling over the loan). These factors while protecting many viable businesses, may have contributed to the survival of some technically insolvent firms that would have defaulted otherwise. Recent evidence from insolvency practitioners have suggested the emergence of such “zombie” firms in the UK over the course of the GFC and the following economic recession. Accordingly, the objective of this Thesis is fourfold. The main objective is to investigate the impact of the recent GFC and the firm-specific determinants of the capital structure on firms’ leverage ratios. The second objective is to identify zombies, thirdly to develop an empirical model to identify the determinants of zombieness status, and fourthly to estimate their impact on the probability of becoming a zombie. The same dataset on the constituents of the FTSE 250 Index is utilised in achieving all these objectives. Identifying zombies via a two-condition criteria, and using a population-averaged logit procedure, we show that the probability of becoming a zombie increases with the degree of financial leverage and viability of the business (as perceived by firm’s top management). However, it is negatively affected by firm’s profitability, cash-generating ability, and the ability to pay dividends. Our results thus show that there was a prevalence of zombie firms in the UK which evolved from the GFC. Using data on the constituents of the FTSE 250 Index over the period 2004-2012 and estimating a two-step System GMM procedure, we find that the leverage ratio is positively affected by the tangibility of assets, the size of the firm, the amount of non-debt tax shields, growth opportunities and business risk, but declines with an increase in firm profitability. Furthermore, the recent GFC is found to exert a significant impact on firms’ leverage ratio. The results also confirm that firms have target leverage ratios with a fairly fast speed of adjustment. Applying the same estimation technique to a post-crisis model, we find that, despite the substantial differences in their ability to meet financial obligation, the leverage ratios of zombies and non-zombies do not seem to be determined differently. We further establish that except for business risk and growth opportunities, other commonly used firms-specific determinants of capital structure, maintain their empirical relevance over the post-crisis period.

Quakers were disproportionately successful in commerce during the period in which Britain emerged as the world’s leading trading nation. Analysing the causes of their success sheds light on our understanding of the developments facilitating economic growth in the period immediately preceding the Industrial Revolution. This thesis critically explores how the Society of Friends’ religious ideas and institutions sustained its members’ businesses. It proves previous explanations for Quakers’ success wrong. It finds that contrary to what has been argued in the literature, the Quakers’ business ethics were not unique. The Society of Friends did not police honest conduct in business or enforce the payment of debts before the late eighteenth century. Equally, marital religious endogamy likely only began to facilitate the growth of kinship networks after 1750. This thesis moreover shows an important institutional change undergone by the Society of Friends in the mid-eighteenth century. As part of the Quaker revival of the 1750s, Quaker meetings began to monitor and police their members’ behaviour, including the conduct of business and marital endogamy, to an unprecedented degree. This may have had implications for Friends in business in the proceeding age of industrialisation. However, neither ethics, the enforcement of honesty, or marital endogamy can explain Quaker commercial success during the seventeenth century Atlantic trade expansion. Instead, this thesis it shows that Quaker meetings in seventeenth century Philadelphia arbitrated commercial disputes between local Friends as well as with Quaker merchants’ in England. Further research is required to establish the scale on which this happened, but it is possible that this activity of Philadelphia meetings provided Friends with a competitive edge in the colonial trade.

The de-industrialisation of the UK economy caused by globalised international markets, advancements in technology and production with changing consumer demands have made much of what was ‘traditional’ manufacturing redundant; this has led to industrial restructuring or even collapse, resulting in mass job redundancies. Market and industrial pressures have intensified since the late 1990s, culminating in the symbolic collapse of MG Rover in 2005 in addition to other key producers in the West Midlands, which represented the end of mass automotive production in the region (Donnelly et al. 2012). This came alongside various geographical, political and economic factors, including the restructuring of regional development agencies, prolonged industrial decline and a period of national economic recession, which presented challenges for any recovery. This thesis examines more precisely the closure of the commercial vehicle manufacturer LDV in 2009, once a part of the larger conglomerate British Leyland. The closure further reinforced the decline in UK automotive manufacturing until that point. The research involves the corporate collapse of LDV and the local government reaction to the closure and the following re-employment pathways of the redundant LDV workforce. The research continues the discussion of plant closures and the issues that redundant workers face when engaged in the labour market during economic recession. In particular, the thesis contribution employs a qualitative approach to examine the difficulties faced by the office tier, or ‘white collar’, workers who possess relatively high skills and who regarded as flexible and less vulnerable workers within the labour market. Yet this research exposes that highly skilled specialist workers are themselves also subject to unique issues when adjusting to the labour market. This topic is covered through the concept of worker trajectories: the research illustrates the unique employability issues and job precariousness that highly skilled workers can experience. The research concludes that the ability of highly skilled redundant workers to adapt effectively requires local job recovery strategies to implement short- and long-term policies with an emphasis on better job search and network development for individuals to sustain a resilient economy, and to mitigate the effects of plant closure upon redundant workers and maintain high skills within the region.

The economic development challenges facing second-tier city-regions in the United Kingdom reflect a critical dimension of policy debates concerning spatial rebalancing. The integration of multi-location firms at second-tier territorial contexts is an important aspect of rebalancing narratives, and this thesis examines what such integration may entail for the economic development of these places. Given the label of the “firm-territory nexus” by other economic geographers (Dicken and Malmberg, 2001), integration brings into focus a complex set of factors, processes and conditions. In order to grapple with and order such complexity, the conceptual framework of city-region absorptive capacity has been proposed and developed in this research. Four case studies across two second-tier UK cities, Edinburgh and Manchester, comprising interviews with elites and the collection of extensive documentary material, provides the empirical material for framework development. The research hinges on an analytical process that: first, deploys the functional form of “absorptive capacity” to provide language and broad parameters by which to approach the empirical object; and second, generates abstract categories from the empirical data to flesh out a contextually sensitive conceptual framework. Network position relative to London and labour appear as important integrating mechanisms across the case studies, though the conceptual framework demonstrates contingencies in terms of territorial and relational processes, shifting moments of structure and agency, and the overlapping institutional mosaics at play. By providing portraits of city economies in the middle ground of global economic networks, the need to articulate economic geographies of the “outside” and “inside” are also given emphasis.

Infrastructure network systems support society and the economy by facilitating the distribution of essential services across broad spatial extents, at a range of scales. The complex and interdependent nature of these systems provides the conditions for which localised failures can dramatically cascade, resulting in disruptions that are widespread and very often unforeseen. This systemic vulnerability has been highlighted multiple times over the previous decades in infrastructures systems from around the world. In the future, the hazards to which infrastructure systems are exposed are set to grow with increasing extreme event risks caused by climate change. The aim of this thesis is to develop methodology and analysis for understanding and reducing the risk of failure of national interdependent infrastructure network systems. This study introduces multi-scale, system-of-systems based methodology and applied analysis that provides important new insights into interdependent infrastructure network risk and adaptation. Adopting a complex network based approach; real-world asset data is integrated from the energy, transport, water, waste and digital communications sectors to represent the physical interconnectivity that exists within and between interdependent infrastructure systems. Given the often limited scope of real-world datasets, an algorithm is presented that is used to synthesise missing network data, providing continuous network representations that preserve the most salient spatial and topological properties of real multi-level infrastructure systems. Using the resultant network representations, the criticality of individual assets is calculated by summing the direct and indirect customer disruptions that can occur in the event of failure. This is achieved by disrupting sets of functional service flow pathways that transcend sectorial and operational boundaries, providing long-range connectivity between service originating source nodes and customer allocated sink nodes. Kernel density estimation is used to integrate discrete asset criticality values into a continuous surface from which statistically significant infrastructure geographical criticality hotspots are identified. Finally, a business case is presented for investment in infrastructure adaptation, where adaptation costs are compared to the reduction in expected damages that arise from interdependency related failures over an assets lifetime. By representing physical and geographic interdependence at a range of scales, this analysis provides new evidence to inform the targeting of investments to reduce risks and enhance system resilience. It is concluded that the research presented within this thesis provides new theoretical insights and practical techniques for a range of academic, industrial and governmental infrastructure stakeholders, from the UK and beyond.

This dissertation examines the British Catholic community during the Age of Mercantilism. It opens with John Aylward's trade in the early 1670s and closes with the death of Bishop Richard Challoner in the late eighteenth century. By investigating the economic and financial strategies of these individuals, this work dispels the stereotype of idle Catholicism and shows how the Catholic community played a relevant role in the emerging Atlantic economy. The work starts with an analysis of John Aylward's dealings during outbreaks of international warfare. His papers prove that Catholicism was crucial in his business, allowing the adoption of various strategies and access to diverse markets. As a merchant Aylward defies the stereotype of religious minorities' communality in trade, by moving beyond religious and national borders. Moreover, he challenges the stereotype of Catholicism as estranged from capitalism. The dissertation further continues with an analysis of his widow Helena Aylward, as merchant and financier. Her skills and strategies allow the extension of the narrative of enterprise and Catholicism to women as well, by challenging the prevailing role of Catholic women as patrons or nuns. Finally, the last chapter analyses the business accounts of Bishop Richard Challoner, Vicar Apostolic of the London Mission. His dealings exemplify how Catholicism played a relevant role in finance, both individually and institutionally. In fact, the British Catholic Church fundamentally sustained itself through the stock market. Therefore, this work proves that Catholics were entrepreneurs: they built coherent trading zones and through a broad range of Atlantic connections, moved beyond the borders of the European Empires. They disregarded religious affiliations and nationalities, suggesting that the new economic and financial opportunities of the Age of Mercantilism allowed the Catholic Community to integrate into the British economy and eventually to achieve toleration.