Domestic Regions, Overseas Nations, and Their Interactions through Trade: The Case of the United Kingdom

Abstract

A little-explored facet of the global economy is the way regions within nations and different parts of the international community interact through trade flows. A number of reasons are suggested why this is of interest, especially as far as regional exporting is concerned. These are explored further with respect to exports from UK regions in 1978 and 1986 in terms of the patterns of linkages arising, their significance for the transmission of economic impulses, their possible explanations, their significance for the wider health of the UK space economy, and the logic of stability and change in these relationships. In the ensuing discussion the author suggests what more we need to know to allow a fuller interpretation of these patterns.