Summary of Quarterly Bulletin
May 1998

Research work published by the Bank is intended to contribute to debate, and is not necessarily a statement of Bank policy.

Growth in UK manufacturing between 1970-92 (115k)
(by Gavin Cameron of Nuffield College Oxford, James Proudman of the Bank's Monetary Instruments and Markets Division, and Stephen Redding of New College, Oxford and CEPR).
This article examines productivity growth and levels in UK manufacturing between 1970-92. During this period, UK manufacturing output fell, but by less than the number of hours worked in manufacturing, so labour productivity increased. Within manufacturing, economic performance varied considerably, both across sectors and time, including a notable difference between the two peak-to-peak business cycles 1973-79 and 1979-89. To understand manufacturing economic performance more fully, the article considers disaggregated data for 19 manufacturing industries, using two measures of productivity: labour productivity and Total Factor Productivity.

Competition and co-operation: developments in cross-border securities settlement and derivatives clearing (63k)
(by Bob Hills and Chris Young of the Bank's Payment and Settlement Policy Division).
European securities settlement systems and derivatives clearing houses are preparing for EMU by offering members clearing and settlement services in foreign as well as domestic instruments. This article outlines recent developments and new initiatives in cross-border securities settlement and derivatives clearing. It suggests that competition for post-EMU business is already resulting in increased co-operation, in the form of links between systems. These developments have implications for the risks in cross-border clearing and settlement and for market structure, and raise issues for central banks and regulators.