A Brief History of the International

A Brief History of the International
Economy
You are required to answer one and only one question from the following six. Your essay
should
be 1,000 words give or take 10 per cent. You must draw on and cite at least three academic
sources (books or journal articles) and include a bibliography.
1. Was the colonization of the Americas a necessary element of European industrialization?
2. Why did the Industrial Revolution emerge in Britain and not in China?
3. Hegemonic Stability Theory (HST) argues that a liberal and open world economy is dependent
on a great power taking on the costs of upholding it. For example, British naval and
financial power is often seen as responsible for upholding free trade and the gold
standard in the 19th century. Evaluate the extent to which the increasingly liberal and
open post-1945 world economy has been dependent on the power of the United States.
4. What were the key institutions and purposes of the Bretton Woods system at its inception?
5. Outline the costs and benefits of the classical gold standard, and discuss whether you think a
return to the gold standard would be beneficial to the global economy.
6. “The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed,
the various
products of the whole earth, in such quantity as he might see fit, and reasonably expect
their early delivery upon his doorstep; he could at the same moment and by the same
means adventure his wealth in the natural resources and new enterprises of any quarter
of the world, and share, without exertion or even trouble, in their prospective fruits and
advantages; or he could decide to couple the security of his fortunes with the good faith
of the townspeople of any substantial municipality in any continent that fancy or
information might recommend. He could secure forthwith, if he wished it, cheap and
comfortable means of transit to any country or climate without passport or other
formality, could despatch his servant to the neighboring office of a bank for such supply
of the precious metals as might seem convenient, and could then proceed abroad to
foreign quarters, without knowledge of their religion, language, or customs, bearing
coined wealth upon his person, and would consider himself greatly aggrieved and much
surprised at the least interference” (J.M. Keynes, 1920). The above quote shows the great
economist John Maynard Keynes mourning the loss of pre-1914 economic integration or
globalization. What do you think that the collapse of the first period of economic
globalization can tell us about the inevitability of continued economic integration?
One Useful Article/Book Chapter for Each Question
1. Vries, P.H. (2001) Are Coal and Colonies Really Crucial? Kenneth Pomeranz and the Great
Divergence. Journal of World History 12(2): 407-446
2. Pomeranz, K. (2000) The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the
Modern
World Economy. Princeton University Press. Available as an ebook from the UHD e-library.
3. Milner, H.V. (1998). International Political Economy: Beyond Hegemonic Stability. Foreign
Policy: 112-123 (Blackboard).