International Economic Relations since 1945

by Schenk; Catherine R.

• ISBN13: 9780415570787
• ISBN10: 0415570786
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2011-04-06
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The international economy since 1945 has endured dramatic changes in its balance of power, from the early period of prosperity for industrialised nations, to the 2008/9 global crisis. In this volume Catherine Schenk outlines these huge changes, examines how the world's economic leaders have tried to organise and influence the international economy and presents the key frameworks in which international economic relations have developed.Focusing on the pattern of international trade, international investment and the changing organisation of the international monetary system, this volume takes a chronological approach of key time-frames, and shows how policy has impacted the balance of the international economy. Major events such as European integration in the 1960's, the collapse of the international monetary system and oil crisis in the 1970's, and the East Asian Economic 'Miracle' of the 1980's are discussed within the context of key themes including global economic and regulatory co-ordination, the role of American economic hegemony, the evolution of exchange rate policy and unequal development.

Author Biography

Catherine R. Schenk is professor of International Economic History at the University of Glasgow, UK. She is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Her publications include Britain and the Sterling Area: From Devaluation to Convertibility in the 1950s (Routledge, 1994), Hong Kong as an International Financial Centre: Emergence and Development, 1945-1965 (Routledge, 2001), Hong Kong SAR's Monetary and Exchange Rate Challenges: Historical Perspectives (2008) and The Decline of sterling: Managing the Retreat of an International Currency 1945-1992 (2010).

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. xi
List of tables	p. xiii
Introduction and overview	p. 1
The organisation of the international economy	p. 5
Basic trends in international economic relations	p. 9
Rebuilding the international economic System 1945-50	p. 20
Bretton Woods and the founding of the IMF	p. 26
International Trade Organisation	p. 29
Recovery of the international economy	p. 31
Conclusions and summary	p. 38
Years of growth 1950-73	p. 39
European integration: from the ECSC to the EEC	p. 40
Trade liberalisation, market integration and economic growth	p. 43
Persistent inequalities	p. 44
Challenges to the pegged exchange rate system	p. 46
Collapse of the international monetary system 1971-3	p. 50
Conclusions and summary	p. 54
Years of crisis 1973-85	p. 55
OPEC and the oil crisis	p. 55
Operation of floating exchange rates	p. 61
Problems of unequal development	p. 63
Rise of sovereign debt and the Third World Debt Crisis	p. 67
Conclusions and summary	p. 74
The start of the second globalisation 1985-95	p. 76
Ideology of globalisation	p. 76
Measuring globalisation	p. 80
China re-enters the international economy	p. 86
Convergence and divergence	p. 90
European monetary integration	p. 92
Conclusions and summary	p. 95
The acceleration of globalisation and renewed crises 1995-9	p. 97
Spread of global economic activity	p. 97
International economic co-operation	p. 107
Financial crises in emerging markets	p. 110
Conclusions and summary	p. 119
Lessons not learned: the 2000s	p. 121
Economic and monetary union in Europe	p. 121
The BRIC phenomenon	p. 132
Global imbalance	p. 136
Global recession	p. 148
Conclusions	p. 154
Glossary	p. 158
Further reading	p. 160
Notes	p. 162
Index	p. 167
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