A comprehensive theory of the correlation driven metal insulator transition in 1D and 2D strongly correlated electron systems is given. In both the 1D and 2D Hubbard model the metal insulator transition encountered close to half filling is of Pokrovsky-Talapov type. An important consequence of this in the 2D Hubbard model is the break down of the Fermi liquid theory. We also describe in detail the properties of the Pokrovsky-Talapov transition in 2D ferroelectrics.