This research forms part of the pan-European Science and Technology Research In a Knowledge-based Economy (STRIKE) project. The UK research focuses on the impact of changes in the extent of competition on innovation, technology transfer and productivity, and how these are affected by other institutional factors such as the extent of labour market flexibility and interaction in technology markets. The research has two themes:

• Institutions and growth: Theory is ambiguous about the impact of product market reforms on employment and productivity, and suggests that the impact may vary across industries, countries and time. We investigate how product market institutions interact with labour market regulations and technology markets and how strategic interaction between firms affects the flow of knowledge.
• EU integration, competition and innovation: An important justification for integration in Europe has been the potential benefits to productivity, in part from higher levels of innovation. Since knowledge spillovers appear to be geographically concentrated, integration should increase these by reducing the 'economic distance' between European countries. We investigate whether the dramatic increase in European integration between 1970 and 2000 has increased the level of cross-country knowledge flows.