ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an economic perspective on regional business networks (RBNs). The aim is to explore the contribution that economic theory can make to the analysis of the historical evolution of industrial districts, regional networks and clusters of firms. Economics is a continually evolving discipline, and some non-economists judge the subject using an old-fashioned stereotype which is no longer true (if it ever was). This chapter therefore begins by setting out the gist of an economic approach to historical subjects and distinguishing this from the neoclassical 'straw man' used by critics of economics.
