ABSTRACT
This chapter considers general economic explanations for the existence and growth of cities.1 In the context of nineteenth-century London, economic theory is important for three reasons. First, it enables deductions to be made about real world economic processes. These can then bring life to the historical information available. Second, economic theory enables clear expression of the interconnectedness of urban economic activity; and, third, it helps to identify the way in which London’s economy related to the wider national and international ones.
