Barry Moore obituary

Economist who became a noted authority on the business of scientific innovation and the revival of ailing regions

Many practitioners of the "gloomy science" are the object of scathing criticism these days, either for having taken their eyes off the financial ball in the run-up to the banking crisis or for retreating into mathematical byways. But Barry Moore, who has died aged 74 of a heart attack, belonged to the old school of "applied" economists - a breed always concerned with practical issues, and much in demand around the world.

His early speciality lay in regional policy - a subject that almost fell into desuetude from the later years of Margaret Thatcher's government, once Michael Heseltine had used development corporations to revive the fortunes of Merseyside and London Docklands, but which now seems to have been rediscovered by their Conservative successors.

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