Regional policy and company investment behaviour

McGreevy T. E. and Thomson A. W. J. (1983) Regional policy and company investment behaviour, Reg. Studies 17, 347–358. The paper looks at the effectiveness of regional financial assistance from the perspective of the companies receiving such assistance. It notes that very little attention has been given to company behaviour and perception as opposed to macro-economic analysis of regional policy. The article is based on a survey of forty-nine Scottish manufacturing firms which had been offered regional selective assistance and sets out to examine: (1) methods of investment analysis and the role of regional incentives in this process; (2) to investigate what would have happened in the absence of such assistance; and (3) to establish which type of financial incentive was most influential. The results in the opinion of the authors do indicate that regional policy has a positive impact in providing investment and jobs in Scotland which would not have otherwise occurred.