Abstract
Globalisation is not a simple term to engage with. Over the last number of decades it has been ascribed an importance that has captured popular public attention. It has been alternatively presented as a Ricardian tool for closer cooperation and growth while forcing down inflationary forces through trade with developing countries, or as a trap that increases inequality and limits the capacity of the state to deal with same (Martin and Schumann 1997). In more recent years luminaries such as Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman have begun to question whether the globalising process, or more accurately the unrestricted movement of goods and labour or trade globalisation, has in fact gone too far, arguing that advocates overestimate the benefits and underestimate costs, particularly for the standards of living of those in advanced countries with limited skills (Krugman 2016; Stiglitz 2017). It is this skills and occupational component that arguably deserves greater focus when considering the impact of globalisation on a city such as Coventry.
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Notes
- 1.
Clark, C. The conditions of economic progress; Lewis, ‘Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies’; Kuznets, ‘Modern Economic Growth’; Chenery et al., ‘Patterns of Development’; Chenery , ‘Structural Change and Development’.
- 2.
A fuller description of the Industrial Disputes Order can be found in Hansard Aug 1951, vol. 491, cc1624-30. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1951/aug/02/industrial-disputes-new-order
- 3.
During the 1960s a number of significant closures in the in aero production occurred, resulting from government policies of rationalisation and defence considerations, leading to a 60% reduction in employment in the sector in Coventry, with the remainder focussed largely on aerospace engine production (Mallier and Rosser 1982).
- 4.
Sigma convergence is based on neoclassical theory of economic growth. The theory states that all countries converge to the same level of advancement, i.e. economic output. Beta convergence is similarly theoretically grounded and points to poorer countries exhibiting faster rates of growth than richer countries, leading to economic catch-up over time.
- 5.
PA 2616/2/1-14 “Rootes Motors ltd Annual report and statement of accounts 1970,” Coventry Archive and Research Centre.
- 6.
PA 2616/2/12 “Rootes Motors ltd Annual report and statement of accounts 1962,” Coventry Archive and Research Centre.
- 7.
PA 2616/2/1-14.
- 8.
Ibid.
- 9.
Author’s conversation with Prof. T. Donnelly.
- 10.
See Chapter 2 by Donnelly.
- 11.
A shift-share analysis is a standard approach to measuring economic growth or decline by determining how a particular metric has performed against national and regional comparators. It has limitations due to its focus on job growth only, but allows analysis of change, particularly at high levels of disaggregation.
- 12.
National Vocational Qualification are competence based qualifications. There are five levels, with level 4 (used here) corresponding to certificates of higher education. They were replaced by Regulated Qualifications Framework in 2015, but the corresponding certificate level remains the same.
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Begley, J. (2019). Occupational Structure and Change in Post-war Coventry. In: Begley, J., Donnelly, T., Jarvis, D., Sissons, P. (eds) Revival of a City. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22822-4_8
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