Book Review: Gender and the political economy of development

in the EU produce a significantly lower valueadded than in the USA or Japan, and this is mostly due to the poorer performance of some parts of the EU; for example, France, the UK, Germany and Sweden are comparable with the USA, but other countries fall well below. Sectoral specialization as a component of industrial location is the subject of Chapter 5. 'The top five value-added sectors for each EU country are identified and the locational cluster model assessed as an explanation for the differences observed. The theoretical significance of the work of Marshall and Krugman is assessed in this chapter at length, but the links to the actual patterns of specialization in the EU are left largely unexamined. This chapter is a rather unsatisfactory mix of theory and empirical mapping which is not properly linked. It does not carry forward the strong empirical analysis from the previous chapter. Chapter 6 concludes the book by relating the empirical and theoretical discussion to policy. This chapter is also somewhat unsatisfactory disjointed from the earlier theory and empirical discussions. It presents some interesting policy views, some relating to cluster policy, others to the more general framework of regulations and human capital. It is a disappointing conclusion to a book that starts well, follows through with a sound logical progression to empirical analysis, but in Chapters 5 and 6 locks itself into a series of discussions about clustering and other policies that are not fully related back to the earlier chapters. Overall, therefore, this book will be found to be a stimulating research study. Its work has given important stimulus to the policy thinking in Brussels; but it represents more 'ongoing work' than a fully polished and complete framework for policy. It is to be hoped that the author takes his work further in future.