New Twists to London

Our man in economics, Michael Ball, is lead author with David Sutherland of An Economic History of London: 1800-1914. The Business History Review at Harvard Business School starts its comments by saying the authors "set out to move London history in new directions, departing from previous narrative and explanatory accounts and explicitly deploying modern economic theories."

They claim that much of previous views of London development suffers from earlier, misleading views. They find, among other conclusions, that "London was not industrially backward in the nineteenth century, but was growing and diversifying according to the predictions of competitive market theory."

The book is 470 pages. Published by Routledge i 2001, it retailed then for $110. It is available now from Amazon (free shipping) for $115, or as an ebook for $110 from the eBookMall.