Creation and Destruction of Value - Hardcover

James, Harold

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674035844 ISBN 13: 9780674035843

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Synopsis

Harold James examines the vulnerability and fragility of processes of globalization, both historically and in the present. This book applies lessons from past breakdowns of globalization - above all in the Great Depression - to show how financial crises provoke backlashes against global integration: against the mobility of capital or goods, but also against flows of migration. By a parallel examination of the financial panics of 1929 and 1931 as well as that of 2008, he shows how banking and monetary collapses suddenly and radically alter the rules of engagement for every other type of economic activity. Increased calls for state action in countercyclical fiscal policy bring demands for trade protection. In the open economy of the twenty-first century, such calls are only viable in very large states - probably only in the United States and China. By contrast, in smaller countries demand trickles out of the national container, creating jobs in other countries. The international community is thus paralyzed, and international institutions are challenged by conflicts of interest. The book shows the looming psychological and material consequences of an interconnected world for people and the institutions they create.

About this title

About the Author

Harold James is Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674035844
• ISBN 13: 9780674035843
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 252