Research
Dr Ball’s research interests revolve around strategic economics and the issue of new firms and enterprise, especially within the regional context. An acknowledged authority on regional policy, (The Independent on Sunday Guide to Business Schools 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 described him as a “guru” on regional policy), he has researched for and advised the shadow cabinet of the National Assembly of Wales, the Bank of England, the House of Commons Committee Select Committee on Welsh Affairs and is regularly called upon by the media for comment on contemporary economic, business and management issues. Dr. Ball is also a visiting lecturer in Enterprise Economics at HAMK University of Applied Science in Hameenlinna, Finland.

PhD Areas and Topics in Economics 

Current Research:
2010: Regional Systems of Finance and Equity Markets (with Professor Robert Huggins of Cardiff School of Management, UWIC, Cardiff)
2010: Creating an Entrepreneurship Index for the Economic regions of the UK

Selected Recent Publications

• Williams and Ball (2010) Fast Growth Firms in the Regions of the UK; Strategy, Diversification and Growth 7th ESU Conference on Entrepreneurship, Tartu, Estonia
• Ball and Williams (2010) Issues and Evidence in Identifyiong Growth Oriented Small Firms 16th Nordic Conference on Small Business Research, Kolding, Denmark
• Ball J G (2008)
  A Strategy for the Welsh Economy (Monograph)
  Institute of Welsh Affairs
• Ball J G (2008)
  A Wales Stock Exchange
  Agenda  Spring 2008
• Ball J G (2007)
  New Firm Formation – Is VAT Registration Data an Accurate Indicator?
  Local Economy, London, Vol 22, No3
• Ball J G (2006)
  Some Indicators of Likely Entrepreneurship in Wales’ 22 Local Authorities
  Welsh Economic Review, Cardiff, Winter 2006
• Ball J G (2006)
  The Complexities of Encouraging Welsh Enterprise
  Welsh Economic Review, Cardiff, Spring 2006
• Ball J G (2007)
  Some Indicators of Likely Entrepreneurship in England’s Eight ‘Core Cities’
  Birmingham City Council Discussion Papers
• Ball J G and Smith C E (2006)
  Does Wales have the Institutional Capacity to Achieve the Stated Employment and Training Objectives of the Welsh Assembly Government?
  Political Studies Association Conference, Queens University, Belfast