There is an active global debate on corporate governance. A few years ago, there was serious concern about whether US companies would be able to compete against the powerful corporate groupings supported by closely involved banks in the Far East. Now, following the collapse of the East Asian...

The precarious employment situation in the EU has given rise to public policies that aim at giving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) better access to finance. SMEs may face difficulties due to information problems and other inefficiencies in loan markets. However, the European evidence...

In this paper we are concerned with the implications of information and communications technologies (ICTs), and the so-called 'new economy' with which they are associated, for regional development. As such, we are concerned particularly with examining the ways in which ICTs may 'change the...

Inequalities across regions in Europe are a matter of great interest to policy makers and politicians as well as members of the general public. Numerous studies have shown that income inequalities across European regions are large and persistent (Quah, 1996; Esteban, 2000). Interestingly, the...

This paper examines the UK experience of PPP/PFI from a value for money perspective. It argues that a rounded view of overall performance has to consider the procurement process, the construction of the asset procured, and the operational performance that follows. Important changes have been...

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are long-term partnerships between the public and private sectors that usually involve the private sector undertaking investment projects that traditionally have been executed (or at least financed) and owned by the public sector. This paper considers...