Spatial Economics Research Centre Proposal

英国的经济繁荣在各个地区的分布非常不均匀。解决这些持续存在的差距是一项关键的政策目标。空间经济学研究中心（SERC）的主要目标是对这些差异的性质、程度、原因和后果提供严格的了解，并确定适当的政策对策。经济衰退的影响和政府的财政状况增加了发展这种严格理解的重要性，如果我们要确定适当的政策反应。该中心围绕五个相互关联的项目进行研究，重点关注以下核心问题：-什么更重要-你是谁或你在哪里？例如，低技能工人在他们所在的地方表现不好吗？如果是这样，低技能工人在特定地方的空间集中是否足以理解地方之间的差异？还是一个人居住或工作的地方对结果有额外的影响？换句话说，在多大程度上，空间差异是对生产率更高的部门、公司或工人进行分类的结果，而不是对结果产生因果关系的基于地点的影响？这些差异是否被生活和生产成本（例如更高的房价和租金）所抵消？还有什么因素对地方的价值和幸福感有影响？由于经济衰退，答案是否会随着时间的推移而改变？关于联合王国空间差异的规模和性质的方案1侧重于这些问题。-即使地点无关紧要，是什么驱使特定类型的工人和企业在特定地点的空间集中？如果地点比个人特征更重要，那么是什么导致了这些影响？换句话说，基于地点的效应是通过什么渠道产生的，排序是否起作用，两者之间是否存在反馈？土地和房地产市场如何运作以确定抵消成本？市场失灵和政策发挥了什么作用？个人以及移民、劳动力和住房市场之间的相互作用将是我们研究的重点之一。另一个将是企业创新和商业用地市场。这些项目必然是重叠的，但我们通过分析项目2中基于地点的影响和排序的原因来构建我们的研究，而项目3则考虑住房和土地市场。-这对经济的空间结构和演变，以及地方之间的联系有何影响？为什么由此产生的空间差异如此重要？这些问题的答案如何随着全球化、技术变革和其他因素的变化而变化？这些问题载于关于空间经济的结构和演变的方案4。我们在这一领域的研究越来越多地集中在具体政策干预的影响上，以了解政策本身的影响，并利用干预来更好地理解空间经济的运作。-政府在形成这些不平等方面发挥了什么作用？什么政策和治理安排最适合解决这些问题？权力下放会改善还是加剧不平等？关于空间经济政策和治理的方案5着重于这些问题。

Economic prosperity in the UK is very unevenly distributed across space. Tackling these persistent disparities is a key policy objective. Providing a rigorous understanding of the nature, extent, causes and consequences of these disparities, and identifying appropriate policy responses, is the primary objective of the Spatial Economics Research Centre (SERC). The impact of the recession and the government's fiscal position increase the importance of developing this rigorous understanding if we are to identify appropriate policy responses.The Centre structures its research around five inter-linked programmes focused on the following central questions:- What matters more - 'who' you are or 'where' you are? For example, do low skilled workers do badly wherever they locate? If so, is the spatial concentration of low skilled workers in particular places enough to understand the differences between places? Or is it that where someone lives or works has an additional effect on outcomes? In other words, to what extent are spatial disparities the result of the sorting of more productive sectors, firms or workers versus causal place-based effects on outcomes? Are these differences offset by the costs of living and producing (e.g. higher house prices and rents)? What other factors matter for the value of places and for wellbeing? Are the answers changing over time as a result of the recession? Programme 1 on the scale and nature of UK spatial disparities focuses on these issues.- Even if place does not matter, what drives the spatial concentration of particular types of workers and firms in particular places? If place does matter over and above individual characteristics, then what causes these effects? In other words, through what channels do place-based effects arise, does sorting play a role, and are there feedbacks between the two? How do land and real estate markets function to determine the offsetting costs? What role do market failures and policy play? Individuals and the interaction between migration, labour and housing markets will be one focus of our research. Another will be firm innovation and enterprise and the commercial land market. These projects are necessarily overlapping, but we structure our research by analysing the causes of place-based effects and of sorting in Programme 2, while Programme 3 considers housing and land markets. - What are the implications for the spatial structure and evolution of the economy and for the linkages between places? Why are the resulting spatial disparities important? How are the answers to these questions changing in response to globalisation, technological change and other factors? These questions are covered in Programme 4 on the structure and evolution of the spatial economy. Increasingly, our research in this area focus on the impact of specific policy interventions to both understand the impact of the policy itself and to use the intervention to better understand the workings of the spatial economy.- What role does government play in shaping these inequalities? What policies and governance arrangements are most appropriate to tackle them? Will decentralisation ameliorate or accentuate disparities? Programme 5 on spatial economic policy and governance focuses on these issues.