ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the makers of global business from the perspective of international financial centers, with particular attention to the multinational banks and global capital markets that have been at the heart of their activities. It concentrates on the leading financial centers, primarily but not solely London and New York, which have been home to global business in the financial sector, and whose activities have enabled the emergence of global businesses in all sectors. The chapter first examines the first globalization of the world economy, from the 1870s to the Great Depression of the 1930s; then the period of receding international capital flows, which lasted until the 1970s, but did not herald the end of global business; and finally the second globalization of modern history, which ended with the Global Financial Crisis, and whose aftermath is considered in a brief epilogue.
