The Global Economy: A Concise History

Description

The Global Economy: A Concise History traces the history of the global economy over the past thousand years. In doing so, it explores all the main waves of globalization, from the trade revolution of the Middle Ages, to the Great and Little Divergence between the West and the East, as well as the North and the South of the world. This book examines the Industrial Revolution and the World Wars, and their respective consequences, as well as the interaction between technological shifts and the transition in geopolitical equilibria. The last chapters are dedicated to an in-depth examination of the transformation which occurred in the global economy after 1989. The chronological structure of the book is designed to help students memorize and understand key events. This book also discusses broader themes, such as convergence–divergence, growth and decline, development, and industrial revolutions. This will make it of interest not only to students and academics, but to all readers wishing to gain a deeper understanding of the history and current state of the global economy. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Illustrations Chapter 1: The structural characteristics of preindustrial economies 1.1: From the Neolithic Revolution to the Bronze Age urbanrevolution 1.2: The structural features of agrarian economies 1.3: Late-mediaeval economies and the impact of the Black Death Bibliography Chapter 2: The “Great Divergence” 2.1: Opening closed worlds 2.2: The Great Divergence: causes and timing 2.3: Beyond Eurasia: America, Africa and Oceania Bibliography Chapter 3: New players, new institutions 3.1: From south to north 3.2: Origins of the Little Divergence 3.3: On both sides of the Atlantic Bibliography Demographic transition Chapter 4: The Industrial Revolution: technology and society 4.1: A long-term process 4.2: Foreign trade, empire, mercantilism 4.3: Early structural transformation 4.4: The technological revolution: stages, sectors and innovations Bibliography Chapter 5: Why Europe? Why Britain? 5.1: Why Europe? Culture, institutions, economic incentives 5.2: Why Britain? A peculiar combination of factors Bibliography The industrial revolution Chapter 6: An unstoppable process 6.1: The dynamics of “peaceful conquest” in European industrialization 6.2: The universal banks 6.3: The state’s role in the backward countries 6.4: Industrialization and the reactivity of the socio-economic fabric Bibliography Chapter 7: A new world balance 7.1: The Second Industrial Revolution 7.2: A new leading figure: big business 7.3: Technological change: constraints and opportunities 7.4: Towards a new global scenario Bibliography Workplace organization Chapter 8: The Western model and its limits 8.1: Tsarist Russia 8.2: Reform from above: Imperial Japan 8.3: The Meiji Restoration 8.4: China in the late Qing period 8.5: Latin America Bibliography Mass emigration from Europe Chapter 9: The first phase of globalization 9.1: The (first) Great Depression and neomercantilism 9.2: The gold standard and the City at its height 9.3: Imperialism Bibliography International monetary systems Chapter 10: The Great War: the end of a world 10.1: Interpretation of the war: discontinuity and social revolution 10.2: Total war: industrial planning and mobilization 10.3: The geopolitical and economic consequences Bibliography Chapter 11: The post-war years: the age of insecurity 11.1: The difficult return to the international monetary system 11.2: German hyperinflation 11.3: Economic expansion in the 1920s 11.4: The Soviet Union Bibliography Chapter 12: The crisis of capitalism 12.1: The Wall Street Crash 12.2: The Depression 12.3: The Keynesian revolution Bibliography Chapter 13: State intervention 13.1: The New Deal 13.2: Germany 13.3: Italy 13.4: The Soviet Union Bibliography Chapter 14: The Second World War: “Creative Destruction” 14.1: Destruction and creation 14.2: War and growth 14.3: Investments and foreign trade 14.4: The sectors in war: agriculture and raw materials 14.5: Growth of the arms industry 14.6: Planning for combat 14.7: War and big science Bibliography Chapter 15: Prosperity at last 15.1: “Greenhouse with cyclamens” 15.2: Europe destroyed 15.3: The European Recovery Program 15.4: Trade and international agreements 15.5: Mixed economy, nationalizations and development policies 15.6: Miracle, miracles Bibliography Chapter 16: Decolonization: lights and (many) shadows 16.1: Rich and poor 16.2: The nature of underdevelopment 16.3: Decolonization 16.4: Political instability 16.5: Asian destinies Bibliography Chapter 17: From Keynes to neoliberalism 17.1: The end of Keynesian economics 17.2: The 1970s recession 17.3: Retreat of the public sector in the West 17.4: Privatizations in Europe 17.5: Why privatize, how to privatize 17.6: Privatization and development Bibliography Chapter 18: Third world, “third worlds” 18.1: Fragmentation of the Third World 18.2: A legacy of the past 18.3: The disadvantages of the latecomers 18.4: Sectors and companies 18.5: Developmental states Bibliography Chapter 19: The end of a great dream 19.1: A crisis with deep roots 19.2: Gorbachev’s impossible dream 19.3: The difficult return to the market economy 19.4: Towards a new State capitalism Bibliography Chapter 20: Unstable leadership 20.1: Reagan’s America: reviving the economy and reducing the role of the state 20.2: Japan’s lost challenge 20.3: The dynamic recovery of the United States 20.4: China in the global economy: political repression and economic reform Bibliography Chapter 21: Europe in search of an identity 21.1: The end of the Cold War and German Reunification 21.2: The terms imposed by the Treaty of Maastricht 21.3: Arrival of the euro 21.4: The origins of the European crisis Bibliography Chapter 22: The globalized world 22.1: BRICS 22.2: The success of the market and state intervention in Asia 22.3: The commodities boom and development of south-south economic relations Bibliography Chapter 23: A different kind of crisis? 23.1: The origins of the financial crisis 23.2: Bailing out the banking systems 23.3: Uncertainties after the crisis Bibliography Chapter 24: In praise of history Authors