TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bordo,Michael D.
AU  - Eichengreen,Barry
AU  - Irwin,Douglas A.
TI  - Is Globalization Today Really Different than Globalization a Hunderd Years Ago?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7195
PY  - 1999
Y2  - June 1999
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7195
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7195.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Michael D. Bordo
Department of Economics
Rutgers University
New Jersey Hall
75 Hamilton Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Tel: 732/822-7152
Fax: 732/932-7416
E-Mail: bordo@econ.rutgers.edu

Barry Eichengreen
Department of Economics
University of California, Berkeley
549 Evans Hall 3880
Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
Tel: 510/642-2772
Fax: 510/643-0926
E-Mail: eichengr@econ.Berkeley.edu

Douglas A. Irwin
Department of Economics
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH  03755
Tel: 603/646-2942
Fax: 603/646-2122
E-Mail: douglas.irwin@dartmouth.edu
AB  - This paper pursues the comparison of economic integration today and pre 1914 for trade as well as finance, primarily for the United States but also with reference to the wider world.  We establish the outlines of international integration a century ago and analyze the institutional and informational impediments that prevented the late nineteenth century world from achieving the same degree of integration as today.  We conclude that the world today is different: commercial and financial integration before World War I was more limited.  Given that integration today is even more pervasive than a hundred years ago, it is surprising that trade tensions and financial instability have not been worse in recent years.  In the conclusion we point to the institutional innovations that have taken place in the past century as an explanation.  This in turn suggests the way forward for national governments and multilaterals.
ER  -