The uneven impact of the economic crisis on cities and households: Bristol and Liverpool compared

Lead Research Organisation: University of Bristol
Department Name: Sch for Policy Studies

Abstract

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Description This research highlights the ways in which the uneven development trajectories, as well as the institutional, sectoral and social profiles of the city regions of Bristol and Liverpool have shaped the transmission of crisis and austerity and their coalescence in cities and the everyday lives of households.



The dynamics and avenues of transmission of crisis and austerity have evolved temporally and spatially with the 2007 global financial crisis translating into loss of employment, particularly for middle income males, and households without dependants, and in construction and the financial sector; constrained access to credit, reduction in household incomes through stagnant wages, loss of savings and investments and low interest rates. Since 2010, the Comprehensive Spending Review, tax and welfare reform, and rising living costs have had a much wider impact - on the public sector, and the voluntary and community sector with the 'passporting' of cuts evident in both cities (see Jones et al below). The impact of the crisis and austerity on households has also been more widespread, with some households across all ACORN types indicating changes in their behaviour and everyday lives. However, it is households who are just "getting by", or "struggling", and with dependants, who are now being impacted most heavily. Debt accumulation, diminishing savings, and an inability for families to plan for the future were common as households struggled to cope with redundancies, pay freezes, lower wages and changing benefits, in contrast to "thriving" households who had felt little impact, were much more likely to have significant financial resilience, and be established home-owners. The importance of household resources and assets, and informal networks for resilience is revealed. Increasingly, it is lower-middle and low income households, many of whom have already adopted short-term and high-risk coping strategies, who are facing increasing and long-term economic hardship, and a more precarious short-term futures from a combination of stagnating wages, government cuts to the benefit and tax credit system and increasing living costs in the context of eroded household resources and resilience.



The marked differences in terms of global connectivity, policy histories, socio-economic structures and levels of deprivation between the two city regions of Bristol and Liverpool are being further exacerbated as austerity measures and welfare reform have begun to impact. Accompanying the growing division between the cities, is the further concentration and intensification of deprivation and increasing inequality between neighbourhoods and households within cities, representing a reversal of the gains made in previous decades. The research highlights policy concerns regarding the lack of a coherent national economic development strategy for rebalancing the economy for more sustainable growth, as well as new mechanisms for urban governance and economic development activity which are innovative, but currently fragmented, spatially and sectorally, and underfunded. In addition, the lack of balance between competitiveness and cohesion in local development activities seems likely to contribute to the further erosion of resources and resilience of particular cities and households given the starkly uneven impacts of the economic downturn.







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Exploitation Route The major impact of this research is to highlight the multidimensional dynamics and transmission mechanisms of austerity, the contingent ways in which these coalesce in and impact upon cities and households, and appropriate policy responses for sustainable communities and cities.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice
URL http://www.bris.ac.uk/sps/esrcunevenimpact/
 
Title The uneven impact of the economic crisis on cities and households: Bristol and Liverpool compared 
Description  
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2013 
Provided To Others? Yes  
 
Description The uneven impact of the economic crisis on cities and households: Bristol and Liverpool compared. Dissemination Workshops (Bristol and Liverpool) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Scientific meeting (conference/symposium etc.)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Type Of Presentation keynote/invited speaker
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Powerpoint Presentation for Project Research workshops held in Bristol (5 November 2013) and Liverpool (15 November 2013. Participants at the workshops included stakeholders involved in the research, as well as other interested parties, from across the business, voluntary and community, and public sectors, as well as trade union representatives. The workshops facilitated dissemination of the findings, as well as cross-sectoral discussion, debate and policy recommendations.

After the Workshop there was discussion regarding the need to integrate wider range of actors into governance structures and in dissemination of information in order to fully capture wider impacts of recession and austerity. Greater awareness of need to assert `local' responses and initiatives to crisis and austerity rather than just respond to top-down events.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.bris.ac.uk/sps/esrcunevenimpact/workshopdocuments/