The cost of pit closures: some unresolved issues

Television and newspaper coverage of the coal dispute was extensive, but it is unlikely that the general public learned very much from the principal spokesmen (for either side) about the real problems involved in assessing the costs of pit closure. Several interesting and highly competent studies were completed during the dispute, some of which were commissioned as background papers for television programmes, but they appear to have had little effect on the nature of the public debate. This economic perspective revisits the evidence of the gains and costs likely to be incurred as a result of closure.