The industrial revolution may have started in the North of Britain.

But for two generations, it has steadily been falling behind the South.

In wealth and wages, investment, job opportunities and house prices, and in the concentration of power, the gap between North and South has been increasing steadily since the 1980s.

But can a combination of congestion in the South and unused capacity in the North produce an efficient economy in the long run?

Will the expanding crescent stretching from Hampshire to East Anglia eventually send ripples of prosperity into the North as well?

Or will the Government always have to slam the brakes on an overheated Southern economy?

Do soaring property prices merely deter Northerners from moving South - or will they prove 'the Liverpool unemployed's best friend' and finally shift business back to the North?

These questions are at the heart of David Smith's detailed and objective study. The current neglect of regional policy and the continuing barriers to job mobility, he argues convincingly, have helped to create divisions that are bound to become the crucial political issue in the years ahead. His authoritative book offers a major contribution to the debate.

In this updated 2014 edition, with a new introduction, the leading economics writer David Smith examines how the economies of the North and South drifted apart, and whether they can be put back together again - and if so how.

It is essential reading for anyone interested in British politics and economics.

"This authoritative study .... gives a very effective account of the incredible centralisation of decision-making in London, not just in government and administration, but in the press, communications and the management of every major company." .... New Statesman

David Smith is economics editor and columnist for The Sunday Times. His books include ‘Gaining Currency: The Rise and Fall of Monetarism' and ‘From Boom to Bust'. He lives in London.