The city and the cities: finance, ownership and the geography of recession

In the wake of a financial crisis and recession, the UK faces a challenging recovery. This represents an important time to revisit the UK’s systems of finance and ownership. This article argues that failures in the national structure of ownership have had significant consequences in local economies where important companies were based. It argues that current efforts to reform the financial system need to focus on supporting innovative high growth firms, ensuring a diversity of new forms of ownership can develop and that finance is available for all firms, regardless of geography. At present, these factors underpin the potentially uneven geography of recovery.