These two volumes provide a range of perspectives on the collapse of the world economy in the interwar period, a time when problems of crisis and confrontation drastically affected world economic performance. During this period, national and international politics intruded upon global economic relations with more intensity than before. Trade and finance became instruments of government policy with the emergence of macroeconomic analyses of domestic economic performance. While the volumes concentrate on the major trends in the global economy as a whole, attention is also paid to developments in particular economies.The editor’s introduction provides a thematic overview of the main questions raised by this complex period. The Disintegration of the World Economy Between the World Wars, with its focus upon the period’s newly developing concepts for understanding trade and the macroeconomy, will be essential reading for understanding the growth and development of the world economy.
