The local economic impacts of regeneration projects: Evidence from UK's Single Regeneration Budget

Abstract

We study the local economic impacts of a major UK regeneration programme aimed at enhancing the quality of life in deprived neighbourhoods. Our identification strategies include: a) exploiting the fine spatial scale of our firm and area-level panel data to study how effects vary with distance to the intervention; and b) comparing places treated early with those treated in later rounds. We consider the long-run impact of schemes funded between 1995 and 1997 on outcomes up to 2009. Our estimates suggest that the programme increased local workplace employment but had no impact on the employment of local residents.