How did the global economy change at the beginning of the 2000s?

Answer 1

A hundred years ago, the international economy was entering the 20th century with the freest flow of goods, services and capital in human history. The previous century had witnessed expansion of global output and trade, and rising living standards in Europe and North America at a pace never before seen in human history. The 20th century then saw just over a decade of continued expansion, followed by the abrupt disruption of trading and financial ties during the First World War. After some steps toward a restoration of the prewar situation, the international economy collapsed during the decade of the Great Depression, and continued to be fragmented during the Second World War. The century-long trend toward globalization had been reversed and, as of 1950, or even 1960, globalization and the degree of integration of the world economy was considerably less than it had been fifty years before.

Since then, of course, there has been an unprecedented revival and intensification of global integration, supported by technical change, and by international economic policies resulting from multilateral cooperation. These phenomena combined to result in greatly reduced barriers to international flows; further acceleration in the growth rate of world output; the spread of living standards that we associate with advanced industrialization to additional parts of the world and the reduction of poverty and improved living standards in most other parts of the globe; and the emergence of a number of new key players in the international economy.