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The Globalization of Economic Relations

2014, The SAGE Handbook of Globalization

Abstract
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This chapter discusses the concept of economic globalization over the past 30 years, highlighting its multidimensional nature that encompasses political, cultural, and technical aspects, in addition to economic features. It defines economic globalization as a historical process characterized by increasing integration of global economies via the movement of goods, services, capital, and labor. The chapter also explores the distinction between economic globalization and internationalization, emphasizing globalization as a qualitative transformation of economic relations uniquely informed by a global context.

Key takeaways

  • As the two main fields of economic globalization have been finance and trade, the second section discusses the evolution of the major international monetary regimes, including the gold standard, the Bretton Woods system and European monetary integration.
  • (IMF, 2008) The phenomenon can thus have several interconnected dimensions, such as (a) the globalization of trade of goods and services;
  • The relatively short period before World War I (that is, 1870 to 1913) is often referred to as the 'golden age' of globalization, characterized by relative peace, free trade and financial and economic stability (O'Rourke and Williamson, 1999).
  • Thus, growing inequality, along with economic and political dependence, are not independent at all from economic globalization.
  • But trade is not without politics.