Focusing in particular on the Bristol region, this is a study of economic change, jobs, and public policy in Britain's M4 Growth Corridor - the part of the country on which national hopes of economic recovery and high tech growth have increasingly been pinned. It looks at the nature of high tech expansion, growth of service employment, the impact of government defence spending, and the fortunes of the unemployed and disadvantaged in this, a more prosperous part of the country. The authors draw on extensive original research including analysis of key economic sectors - electronics and aerospace, the defence industries, financial services, paper and packaging, and tobacco. Readership: policy makers at central and local government levels.