Economic ideas regarding the urban water supply service in nineteenth century Britain

Abstract

By the mid-nineteenth century, along with other network infrastructures typical of the second industrial revolution, began to take shape the modern system of water supply. The purpose of this paper is to examine the major economic ideas surrounding the beginnings of this new urban service in Britain during the second half of the nineteenth century, which marked a starting point for future analytical developments. First, the socioeconomic importance of improvement of public health through an intensive use of running water. Second, the emergence of the concept of natural monopoly. And finally, the debate about the organization of service management. This interesting case gives us the opportunity to observe the interaction, in both directions, between facts and economic ideas.