ABSTRACT
Between the two wars there was a sharp break in the expansion of world trade. Although the volume of foreign trade continued to grow, the rate of growth of total trade per decade declined from an average of almost 40 per cent in the period 1881-1913 to 14 per cent in the period 1913-37. The decline in per capita trade, from a decadal average of 34 per cent in the period 1881-1913 to 3 per cent in 1913-37, was even more striking. Given the economic difficulties of the interwar period, this decline in world trade is not surprising. What was disconcerting about foreign trade developments during these years, however, was that the retardation in the rate of growth of world trade was clearly more marked than that in the rate of growth of world product, whether measured on a total or per capita basis. Thus, over the period 1913-37 the total product of 13 developed countries grew 22 per cent and increased per capita 13 per cent compared with an increase of almost 11 per cent in total trade and a decrease of slightly more than 3 per cent in per capita trade.1
