ABSTRACT
In 2008, the British think tank Policy Exchange published a report that argued that some cities in northern England such as Liverpool and Hull were beyond reviving. In the UK unbalanced growth has led to increasing spatial inequalities in wealth, education, social mobility, and health. The ‘Leave’ vote was stronger in areas with high incidence of low pay and poor income growth, and local unemployment rates. The first independent ‘stress test’ of OECD countries’ readiness to implement the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals suggests that rich countries will fail to achieve the new goals if they do not take immediate steps towards more sustainable and socially just economies. Populist, polarising, and illiberal movements are benefiting from widespread citizen dissatisfaction with mismanagement and inequality. Regional economic stagnation seems to have particularly driven anti-globalisation sentiments. Although the conditions are very different, developed countries are increasingly seeing some of the same doubts about governance that have been common in less developed countries.
