ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a somewhat modified view of the world economy in the 1930s by taking stock of studies in more recent years. It addresses the problems by discussing several issues of contention that have been variously raised in Western economic history, international economic history, Asian economic history and Japanese economic history without being fully cross-referenced. The chapter argues that the monetary order in East Asia was formed on the basis of, and in tandem with, the new international monetary system based on the British pound's departure from the gold standard. It shows that the currency devaluation by Japan and China in the period from 1929 to 1938 ended up facilitating the industrialization of east Asia. It suggests that the monetary order in East Asia was quite different in nature from that in Continental Europe, because it assumed industrialization in cooperation with the Anglo-American bloc, and in this sense anticipated what was to come after World War II.
