The essays in this volume discuss the worldwide economic integration between 1850 and 1930, challenging the popular description of the period after 1918 as one of mere deglobalisation. The authors posit that markets were not only places of material exchange, but also socially structured entities, shaped by the agency of individual actors and by complex structures of political and economic power. Economic transactions were supported by an array of different institutions, ranging from formalized regulations to informal relations of personal trust. They argue that these networks were strong enough to prosper even through and after World War I, in a political climate often hostile to foreign trade. The Foundations of Worldwide Economic Integration shows that institutionalism altered its shape in the face of circumstances that increasingly challenged international trade. By presenting case studies from various countries, this book offers a fresh perspective on crucial periods of economic globalisation.

Table of Contents:
Tables and Figures ix Contributors xi Foreword by Harold James xv 1 Introduction: Power, Institutions, and Global Markets – Actors, Mechanisms, and Foundations of Worldwide Economic Integration, 1850–1930 Christof Dejung and Niels P. Petersson 1 Part I: Legal institutions and private actors 2 Legal Institutions and the World Economy, 1900–1930 Niels P. Petersson 21 3 Against Globalisation: Sovereignty, Courts, and the Failure to Coordinate International Bankruptcies, 1870–1940 Jérôme Sgard 40 4 Credit Information, Institutions, and International Trade: The United Kingdom, United States, and Germany, 1850–1930 Rowena Olegario 60 Part II: Colonial markets and non-Western actors 5 The London Stock Exchange and the Colonial Market: The City, Internationalisation, and Power Bernard Attard 89 6 The London Gold Market, 1900–1931 Bernd-Stefan Grewe 112 7 The Boundaries of Western Power: The Colonial Cotton Economy in India and the Problem of Quality Christof Dejung 133 8 The Colonised as Global Traders: Indian Trading Networks in the World Economy, 1850–1939 Claude Markovits 158 9 The International Patent System and the Global Flow of Technologies: The Case of Japan, 1880–1930 Pierre-Yves Donzé 179 Part III: The First World War and the consequences for economic globalisation 10 Transnational Cooperation in Wartime: The International Protection of Intellectual Property Rights during the First World War Isabella Löhr 205 11 The Resilience of Globalisation during the First World War: The Case of Bunge & Born in Argentina Phillip Dehne 228 12 Global Economic Governance and the Private Sector: The League of Nations’ Experiment in the 1920s Michele d’Alessandro 249 Index