This second edition has been updated to include an assessment of economic relations up to the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on three main threads that tie national economies together: flows of goods, of people and of finance.
Since the end of the Second World War, the international economy transformed from a tightly controlled trading system to the financial globalization of the late 20th century. This book traces the organisation of international economic relations from the 1944 Bretton Woods conference through to the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath. By outlining the development of economic policy of both national and international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, this volume examines how the global system was constructed and explores the sources of inequality and instability. The changing political context is also emphasised, especially the Cold War and its end, the rise of China and other emerging market economies and the prospect of a retreat from globalisation in the wake of the 2008 crisis.
Using non-technical language and providing clear examples and evidence, the book is an accessible introduction to international economic relations that will be useful for all students of modern world history since 1945.
Author(s): Catherine R. Schenk
Series: The Making of the Contemporary World
Edition: 2
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2021
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
1. Introduction and overview
Defining international economic relations
The organisation of the international economy
Basic trends in international economic relations
Summary
2. Rebuilding the international economic system 1945–50
Wartime cooperation and planning
Bretton Woods and the founding of the IMF
International Trade Organisation
Recovery of the international economy
Conclusions and summary
3. Years of growth 1950–70
Changing patterns of growth
European integration: from the ECSC to the EEC
Trade liberalisation, market integration and economic growth
Persistent inequalities
Challenges to the pegged exchange rate system
Collapse of the international monetary system 1971–73
Conclusions and summary
4. Years of crisis 1970–1985
Introduction
OPEC and the oil crisis
Operation of floating exchange rates
Problems of unequal development
Rise of sovereign debt and the Third World Debt Crisis
Conclusions and summary
5. The start of the second globalisation
Introduction
Ideology of globalisation
Measuring globalisation
China re-enters the international economy
Convergence and divergence
European monetary integration
Conclusions and summary
6. The acceleration of globalisation and renewed crises
Introduction
Spread of global economic activity
International economic cooperation
Financial crises in emerging markets
Conclusions and summary
7. Lessons not learned: The 2000s
Introduction
Economic and Monetary Union in Europe
The BRIC phenomenon
Global imbalances
Global recession and global governance
Euro area crisis
Conclusions and summary
8. Reconstructing international economic relations: 2010–2020
Introduction
The global financial safety net
Growth and inequality
China’s changing international strategy
Challenges to globalisation: Brexit and China–US trade friction
Conclusions and summary
Index
