ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses global economic relations in their relevance to Europe’s major economies and the problems they faced as economies across the world became increasingly interconnected. Overseas supplies first mattered for regional economies in Europe and private firms. Arguments about relationships with the tropics, however, became gradually entwined with industrialization and national economy building, though in different ways. Overseas relationships acquired considerable significance for the French economy, whereas the Italian economy remained regionally organized. In Germany, the role of overseas relations increased from the 1890s, when Germany attempted to rival Britain’s financial and service sector economy. Experts on transnational economic relations gained importance as states needed to reconcile national development with conditions in the world economy. The chapter concludes by addressing links and tensions between the private and public domains in the quest for building national economies in a globalizing world.
