ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the achievement of a global system of money. The differences between today's globalization and that of historic empires are more striking than the similarities. Appropriately, the origin and evolution of market structures are less certain and more diffuse, perhaps Dutch or Chinese. But whoever invented the first market created an idea that has conquered the world: an example with extraordinary power; a religion with no dogma. The globalization of money and markets is a force for peace if it fosters voluntary interdependence. It coordinates without taking sides. Market systems coordinate exchange through prices. The consequences of this will be particular to time and place. Economic history suggests that well-organized market economies produce a surplus well beyond our essential needs at the aggregate, but the distribution of this surplus varies dramatically. It is likely that all perspectives on social organization are necessarily contingent.