ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we combine leadership long cycle principles with some selected observations made by economic historians about what might be called the nineteenth-and twentieth-century channels of world economic growth and trade. We retain the assertion of the leadership long cycle perspective that systemic leadership and the long waves of discontinuous economic growth, for which system leaders are primarily responsible, drives long-term fl uctuations in world economic activity. Economic innovation in the lead economy of the system leader creates technological spurts that drive long waves of economic growth and fund systemic leadership foundations and capabilities. Yet, economic growth and trade never operate on a level playing fi eld. Some parts of the world economy are always favored over other parts, and we need to build this fact of life into our models of growth and trade.
