ABSTRACT

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.

chapter Chapter 2|16 pages

The “Great Divergence”

chapter Chapter 3|17 pages

New Players, New Institutions

chapter Chapter 4|15 pages

The Industrial Revolution: Technology and Society

chapter Chapter 5|14 pages

Why Europe? Why Britain?

chapter Chapter 6|10 pages

An Unstoppable Process

chapter Chapter 7|14 pages

A New World Balance

chapter Chapter 8|20 pages

The Western Model and Its Limits

chapter Chapter 9|15 pages

The First Phase of Globalization

chapter Chapter 10|16 pages

The Great War: The End of a World

chapter Chapter 11|16 pages

The Post-War Years: The Age of Insecurity

chapter Chapter 12|13 pages

The Crisis of Capitalism

chapter Chapter 13|16 pages

State Intervention

chapter Chapter 14|12 pages

The Second World War: “Creative Destruction”

chapter Chapter 15|11 pages

Prosperity at Last

chapter Chapter 16|12 pages

Decolonization: Lights and (Many) Shadows

chapter Chapter 17|11 pages

From Keynes to Neoliberalism

chapter Chapter 18|10 pages

Third world, “third worlds”

chapter Chapter 19|14 pages

The End of a Great Dream

chapter Chapter 20|15 pages

Unstable Leadership

chapter Chapter 21|15 pages

Europe in Search of an Identity

chapter Chapter 22|13 pages

The Globalized World

chapter Chapter 23|14 pages

A Different Kind of Crisis?

chapter Chapter 24|2 pages

In Praise of History