Media playback is unsupported on your device
10 June 2014 Last updated at 07:08 BST
BBC Wales economics editor Sarah Dickins joined an economist at a funfair in Rhyl, one of Wales' most deprived communities.
Professor Karel Williams, of Manchester Business School, says devolution has been "something of a non-event" in economic terms with Welsh ministers relying on growth from a trickle down from a booming south east of England.
He believes rather than powers Wales has been lacking in imaginative policy ideas.
"Some risk is justified because the mainstream orthodoxy of the last 30 years isn't working, it's time for a bit of boldness and imagination," he said.
We're looking back at how successful devolution has been over the last 15 years.