Our lives are imbued with rules and regulations, some of which are vital and sensible, but others are simply stupid. Natasha Hamilton-Hart navigates the rules maze and challenges us to consider how effective some rules are, and whether we would be better off resorting to the exercise of authority.

This paper studies the critical but underexplored role of subcontracting in shaping the spatial and firm-level effects of federal government spending. Using newly available data on defense subcontract awards linked to establishment-level data from NETS, we examine prime-subcontractor...

This year, the Subnational B-READY series covers 66 cities across six EU Member States (Czechia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Spain), spanning 64 NUTS2 regions. The primary objective of the Subnational B-READY studies is to identify and address regional disparities in regulatory...

This year, the Subnational B-READY series covers 66 cities across six EU Member States - Czechia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Spain - covering 64 European regions. In Ireland, Subnational B-READY covers five cities in five regions at the NUTS3 level: Cork (South-West), Dublin (Dublin),...

Bridging together the Middle-Income Trap (MIT) literature with the Global Value Chains (GVCs) approach may provide a more fine-grained understanding of the middle-income (MI) countries' developmental dilemmas. While the former identifies the structural challenges these countries face, the latter...