An Economic History of London 1800-1914 (Routledge Explorations in Economic History)

First Edition / First Print. Hardback copy in glazed pictorial boards, no dustjacket as issued. 470pp. Routledge Explorations in Economic History. Not library copy, no inscriptions, no underlined or highlighted text, no notes in margins. In 1800 London was already the largest city in the world, and over the course of the next century its population grew rapidly, reaching over seven million by 1914. Historians have often depicted London after the Industrial Revolution as an industrial backwater that declined into the mass exploitation of labour through 'sweating', dominated by City and merchant interests. This book instead argues that London was a centre of nineteenth-century British economic growth. Modern economic theories of cities are used to explain the causes of metropolitan economic development, and emphasis is placed on the changing role of the metropolis within Britain and the wider world economy. (38/4).