ABSTRACT
SINCE Britain's whole livelihood was so closely bound upwith international activities it is impossible to follow its eco-nomic history without examining the world conditions in which it was set. Imports contributed to the feeding of everyone in the country and entered directly into a large proportion of its products. If there were a permanent substantial drop in the vast income earned from exports and from services and loans to foreigners the British economy must suffer severely. The conditions of foreign business were thus of vital "importance to the British people who, if they found them becoming increasingly adverse, must strive to alter both their own economic activities and the international environment. It has already been indicated that the highly successful late-Victorian accommodation between the British and world economies was becoming outdated by 1914, though without causing much immediate difficulty. The dislocations and the shifts of economic power caused or enhanced by the First World War have also been sketched. It remains to be considered a little more closely how these various conditions interacted with each other, which among them had the most prolonged and increasing effect, what parts of British business they concerned most closely, and what new and profitable economic opportunities they created for whoever could grasRthem.
