Abstract

The strictly mathematical foundation of conventional economic theories has resulted in circumscribed analyses of world economic history. Larry Allen's groundbreaking The Global Economic System since 1945, in contrast, re-evaluates world economic history in a context that recognizes and avoids the inherent limitations of mathematical models.

The Global Economic System since 1945 does not shun economic theory, but rather uses it as a tool to reassess recent world economic history. Allen describes how, starting at the end of World War Two, powerful corporations lobbied governments in an effort to reduce the perceived constraints of regulation. In the past twenty-five years these voices have grown increasingly influential, as governments worldwide adopted free-market policies, reduced economic regulation, and promoted the virtues of free-market capitalism.

The Global Economic System since 1945 presents a fresh and wide-ranging synthesis of economic history and theory that will be valuable to both scholars and curious participants in today's global economy.

"This is really one for the dedicated economist. Allen attempts to provide new interpretations of world economic history. He follows the forces of capitalism since the Second World War and shows how the voice of the powerful conporations have become increasingly influential in promoting the free market."

— Scotland on Sunday
In The Global Economic System Since 1945, Larry Allen presenta synthesis of history and economic analysis that provides a much richer explanation. . . . Readers will come away with a greater understanding of how the interplay among economic forces, politics, and institutions determine outcomes in the world economy. . . . Overall, the book succeeds in making a compelling case that the rise of capitalism has come about in response to a shift from the fear of deflation and unemployment to a fear of inflation, and the failure of planning to accommodate the shift." — Robert Derrell, Eastern Economic Journal
Larry Allen is professor of economics at Lamar University and is the author of The Global Financial System, 1750-2000; the Encyclopedia of Money; and the ABC-CLIO World History Companion to Capitalism.