Global Capitalism - we may never go back the the early 20th century world

 

Jeffry Friedman is one of the leading economists on the history of the international global order. His book, Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century, is now 20 years old, but it is a good read if you would like to know where we have been before the current globalization upheaval. Global capitalism is not natural. It was fought for by a few visionary bankers. These bankers made money, but they also saw a more connected world. Unfortunately, the Great War destroyed the high point in global trade and reset the world financial order. The depression forced new isolation. The Second World War again led to a new, more controlled international order under U.S. dollar hegemony. This system broke down, but we saw a new emergence of global capitalism following the fall of communism, cheap transportation, and a world willing to cooperate. The story ends before the Great Financial Crisis, which again led to a shift in global capitalism toward autarky, neo-mercantilism, and non-cooperation. We are observing a decline in trade volumes. We may never see coordinated global capitalism, but we do see bastardized forms of public-private coordination imposed on economies.