ABSTRACT
The world economy is becoming more global. The segmentation of markets is being reduced; new regions, which have until recently scarcely been involved in world trade, are pushing into the international division of labor. Latin America recorded weak economic growth in the five decades from 1950 until 1997 and had a negative growth rate in the 1980s, its 'lost decade'. The development of the Asian countries on the Pacific rim took a different course. They were basically characterized by an international orientation of their economic policy and exposed their economies to competition from abroad. Globalization means that market segmentations in product and factor markets are reduced and that national markets become more interdependent. The increasing integration of the world economy changes the conditions for the trade in services. In contrast to such a macroeconomic view, other aspects are rather microeconomic; for instance, an analysis of the world markets for goods, including adjustments to disturbances of equilibria on the commodity markets.
