ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the parts of economic theory which relate to the regional question. Despite the major advances in economic theory that have been made in the present century, most economists have completely ignored the use of space. The first important work on the economics of location is that of von Thunen in 1826. The first systematic attempt to tackle the problems of industrial location was made by Alfred Weber. More commonly, however, the important factor is that transport costs are not proportional to distance as the simple Weber model assumes. The way in which economic activity has come to be spread over space is to a great extent due to historical factors; and it may therefore be useful to analyse these factors before developing any purely theoretical conceptions. The two principal pioneering works on the spatial distribution of economic activity are those of Walter Christaller and August Losch.
