ABSTRACT
One of the most important economic developments during the postwar boom has been the growing internationalization of capital. The long boom that followed the end of World War II was very much propelled by the dramatic expansion of world trade following the reduction or removal of trade barriers. 1 Accelerating overseas investment by U.S. firms in the 1950s and 1960s gave rise to multinational corporations (MNCs) producing and marketing their goods in a large number of countries. U.S. banks followed their largest corporate clients abroad, thus turning themselves into transnational banks (TNBs). Soon these TNBs set up their own credit and payment system, the Euromarket, which enabled them to operate beyond the nationally confined reach of central banks. Technological improvements in transportation and communications facilitated the global integration of production and financial markets, a trend that began in earnest during the late 1970s. In short, we have today a globally integrated economy in which resources and activities are no longer confined by national boundaries.
