Customer Reviews

The End of Globalization: Lessons from the Great Depression

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This well written, documented and academic book reads like a novel. Author explains how the British global-led economy was structured in the 19th century, its weaknesses and how it unraveled in the 1920s and 1930s. He reviews monetary policies, banking instability in the pre- and Depression era, trade and its collapse, the rising reaction against international migration starting in the 1890s and culminating after World War I, the opposition between nationalism and capital that existed after 1929 and finally assesses if a new depression could occur again. Despite the dates, the events it describes look so familiar to us today that it sends shivers down the spine.

Written in 2001, the author was still optimistic in his conclusions saying that unlike the 1930s, nobody today was challenging global finacial orthodoxy. But since Ben Laden destroyed the World Trade Center, Argentina has collapsed like in the 1930s, Brazil is on the path to renege its debt just like in 1931, many scandals have shaken Corporate America, stocks have fallen to after-September 11 levels. Le Pen, a right-extremist was a contender to Chirac in the French presidential elections. Migrations have become a hot debate in Europe. The Bush Administration like the Hoover one puts barriers on international trade (steel), does not participate in multilateral debates (UN, Climate, International Court) damaging the system of multilateral organizations, debates and trade. These collapsed in the 1930s to be replaced by bilaterel relations with the known consequences: a global depression and a global war.

If you have not read about the years 1929-1939 this book get you ready for the current crisis we face in our finacial system .I'm not a college grad and believe I grasped the subject manner