Urban System Theory, and Urban Policy and Expenditures in England and Wales*

Abstract

ABSTRCTUrban systems theory offers a useful and potentially powerful way of analysing public policy and service expenditures, a research field which, in the past, has lacked in general theory and good empirical results. It is hypothesized that just as cities which play an important role in the national urban system provide a wide range of specialized and expensive goods and services in the private sector, so also will they tend to spend heavily on a range of public services and amenities. Following recent theoretical developments, the presence of the headquarters of major companies is used as a measure of the importance of English and Welsh cities in the national urban system, and this measure is related to service expenditures. The results strongly support the hypothesis, and suggest that levels of service expenditure, particularly on what are termed indivisible services, are related to the general characteristics of an urban system, rather than directly to the concentration of business headquarters.