What Explains the Location of Industry in Britain, 1871-1931

Where transport costs were falling, were the new economic geography forces for industry agglomeration and dispersion at work in the movement of industry in pre-1931 Britain? This Paper examines the issue empirically using a general model that nests the Heckscher-Ohlin factor endowment with new economic geography models. The evidence suggests that while the former mainly drove the location of pre-1931 British industry, the scale economies aspect of the latter also played a role.