States that the end of the Cold War created expectations of a peace dividend. Analyses and critically evaluates the set of myths about this dividend which emerged. Reviews the…
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States that the end of the Cold War created expectations of a peace dividend. Analyses and critically evaluates the set of myths about this dividend which emerged. Reviews the response of defence industries to disarmament and provides evidence from the UK.
Introduction It is now part of the conventional wisdom that the success of the industrial strategy is vital because the UK “needs a healthy manufacturing industry”. Proposals have…
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Introduction It is now part of the conventional wisdom that the success of the industrial strategy is vital because the UK “needs a healthy manufacturing industry”. Proposals have been made to allocate a substantial proportion of the additional revenues from North Sea oil and gas to domestic manufacturing capacity and to stimulate employment directly. But how are these allocative decisions to be resolved? Even if we accept the conventional wisdom of an industrial strategy, which industries and regions are to be the focus of public policy and why? What are the manpower implications of the industrial strategy? Proposals for more skilled labour cannot be divorced from industrial, locational and factor “mix” decisions. Potential conflicts exist between industrial and employment policy. Efforts to increase the competitiveness of UK manufacturing industry through increased investment and higher productivity will result in the substitution of capital for labour and hence job loss; at the same time, policy aims to increase employment in manufacturing! Not surprisingly, estimates of a “job gap” of some 2 millions by 1981 dominate the debate, although such forecasts usually fail to refer to the price dimension, especially assumptions about the set of relative and real wage rates.
Keith Hartley, Renaud Bellais and Jean-Paul Hébert
The European defence industry has changed considerably since the late 1980s. The end of the Cold War required the industry to undertake major restructuring, especially when…
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The European defence industry has changed considerably since the late 1980s. The end of the Cold War required the industry to undertake major restructuring, especially when governments, expecting to reap a “peace dividend,” drastically cut procurement spending. In the early 2000s this restructuring was also influenced by the new context of international security, even though defence budgets have started to increase again since 1998. The European defence industry could not expect to escape from a radical transformation, beyond the specific crisis engendered by the end of the Cold War.
Wars have important economic dimensions. They involve costs requiring resources that have alternative uses such as new hospitals, schools, and roads. Economists can contribute to…
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Wars have important economic dimensions. They involve costs requiring resources that have alternative uses such as new hospitals, schools, and roads. Economists can contribute to the understanding of wars by identifying their costs. Case studies make a valuable contribution by providing estimates of the costs of conflict. Much has been written about the costs to the USA of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Similar studies for the UK have been lacking. This chapter provides UK estimates of the costs of both conflicts.
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
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In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.
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Stephen Martin, Keith Hartley and Bernard Stafford
Although the Cold War is over, the dangers of international armed conflict remain. Multinational talks about restricting the arms trade stalled in 1992. If they resume, what…
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Although the Cold War is over, the dangers of international armed conflict remain. Multinational talks about restricting the arms trade stalled in 1992. If they resume, what should the British attitude be towards participation in a multilateral agreement to limit arms exports when such exports apparently make a significant contribution to the UK economy? Sensible public debates and choices need information on the likely economic impacts of alternative scenarios. This paper examines the likely effects of a one‐third reduction in the value of UK arms exports. It finds that between 13,333 and 40,000 jobs would be lost and that of those that remain in the labour force over half will find new work within a year. The South‐West would be the worst affected region losing 0.3 per cent of all jobs; defence sales would be cut by between 3 and 8 per cent; aerospace output would be cut by between 5 and 9 per cent , and total exports would fall by 0.5 per cent. There would be initial adverse effects but, over time, resources would be re‐allocated to other industries and regions.
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Stephen Martin, Keith Hartley and Andrew Cox
Explains that the public sector is a major buyer of goods and services. In the mid‐1980s discriminatory (buy national) public purchasing was identified as one of the barriers to…
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Explains that the public sector is a major buyer of goods and services. In the mid‐1980s discriminatory (buy national) public purchasing was identified as one of the barriers to the completion of the Single European Market. Studies suggested that a more liberal public purchasing regime would bring significant economic benefits with increased competition for contracts reducing public sector procurement costs and facilitating the creation of a more competitive European industrial base. These ideas led to a series of European Union procurement directives designed to prohibit preferential public purchasing. Uses data on contract awards from 1993 to investigate the extent to which public purchasing still discriminates in favour of domestic firms. This evidence casts doubts on the true extent of openness in EU public procurement markets.
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The 1980s saw a resurgence of the notion that transferring assetsfrom the public sector to private enterprise would raise both allocativeand technical efficiency, leading to…
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The 1980s saw a resurgence of the notion that transferring assets from the public sector to private enterprise would raise both allocative and technical efficiency, leading to greater economic well‐being. This resurgence led in the UK and elsewhere to privatization and the transfer of state activities from Government departments to separate agencies. Tests arguments that performance is linked to ownership by considering ten organizations which underwent relevant status changes in the post‐war period. Results confirm that, in general, a political to private change in ownership is associated with improved performance, but that this performance improvement is not guaranteed. Thus the link between ownership and performance is apparently more complex than many commentators have assumed. Findings suggest that further research is needed to address the factors that determine performance.