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Lecture notes, cheat sheets
History of Economics. Foreign policy of the USSR in the late 1920s-1930s (lecture notes)
Directory / Lecture notes, cheat sheets Table of contents (expand) LECTURE No. 6. World trade 1. Trade and credit On the organization of trade, as well as crafts, feudalism left its mark in the form of closed associations - guilds that united the merchants of a given city who traded in a certain product (cloth, bread) with the aim of monopoly in the local market. The composition of goods and the rules of trade circulation were regulated by the guilds, leaving the merchant with relatively little freedom of choice. In Europe, large international wholesale trade served mainly two types of needs: 1) in the exchange of basic food and industrial goods between European countries; 2) in luxury goods and spices of the East. Therefore, there were two main streams of European trade. The first stream is through the Mediterranean Sea. Import - luxury goods, spices, silk and paper fabrics, etc. Export - linen, wool, metal products (but mainly gold and silver cash). The balance is passive. This was due to the steady demand for oriental goods. Spices (especially pepper) played the role of aseptic and even preservatives as seasonings for dishes and drinks; pepper often replaced money in various payments; saffron and other plants were used as dyes. Cotton fabrics, brocade, silk, velvet, incense, incense, colored glass - all this raised the prestige of noble people. Italian merchants transported oriental goods to Europe for wholesale. The product through a series of subsequent resales reached the retail European consumer. Naturally, each time the price "wound up", and the end buyer already overpaid fabulously. The second main trade flow passed through the Baltic and North Seas. By the XIV century. the economy of the Nordic countries was already able to put on the market a significant amount of valuable and transportable goods (hemp, flax, lard, oil, cloth, etc.). In the middle of the XIV century. to regulate and protect trade in the northern region, Hansa was created - an international merchant guild, which included up to 150 trading northern European cities. The Hansa was a military-political union (equipment and protection of trading expeditions, monopolies and privileges, trading posts, etc.), and not an economic association. On the basis of the money-changing business in the feudal economy, as it used to be in ancient times, credit naturally developed. In the conditions of a criminal situation on the roads (feudal robbery) and portable paper money, the practice of cashless transfer arose. Naturally, money changers took over the translation function. The money changer's receipt (bill) began to play the role of cash, according to which its agent in a certain place gave out to this or that person an amount equal to the previously deposited one. The money-changing offices began to be called banks (in Italian, "bank" - "bench", where street money changers usually were), and their owners - bankers. Banks accumulated amounts that they lent at very high interest rates. However, only in the most minimal degree did credit fall into the production sphere. The gospel prohibition for Christians to receive offspring from the inanimate led to the fact that banking and usury in general were largely concentrated in the hands of the Jews. This circumstance affected the situation of the Jewish population of Europe. The Jews were surrounded by hatred and contempt - the refugees from Palestine, who stubbornly maintained faith in their god, received an economic justification - the possibility of obtaining a loan was very tempting for Europeans, and the complete lack of rights of Jewish creditors was often interpreted as the need to repay the debt. The presence of a certain Jewish stratum among bankers is widely used in our time in anti-Semitic propaganda. 2. The birth of capitalism The commercial and usurious capital of Florence (the famous Medici firm) credited the city's woolen industry. The Florentine cloth wholesalers had large funds and were able to buy raw wool in England and sell finished fabrics in distant markets. All preparatory operations (washing and combing of wool, cleaning, including weaving) were carried out by hired workers for daily wages, spinning - by village homeworkers, to whom buyers sent wool. And the craftsmen and dyers who finished the cloth were craftsmen, they worked in their workshops to order. The existence of a capitalist enterprise under the guise of a guild craft is associated with the presence of special economic conditions - such as long-distance imported raw materials, uninterrupted credit and a wide market for sales and labor. The first capitalist industrial production in history was created by the commercial and usurious capital of Northern Italy. 3. Genesis of the capitalist economy in the countries of the first echelon (Holland, England, France, USA) Holland The geopolitical situation contributed to the fact that in the middle of the XVII century. Holland became the center of world trade, which the Dutch bankers successfully took advantage of by lowering interest rates on loans and thereby increasing the inflow of financial capital into the state. As a rule, attracted funds were directed to only one area of economic activity - shipbuilding, which has a long turnover period (and hence return) of funds. This led to an increase in taxes, duties, fees, etc. Firstly, this caused an increase in prices, and, secondly, it turned into a deterioration in market conditions. By the end XVII in. Holland, having lost world leadership both in banking and in trade, nevertheless became the largest maritime power in the world (75% of the European fleet "walked" under the Dutch flag). England The initial accumulation of capital in England was associated with an increase in demand for wool, which contributed to the breeding of sheep and the development of cloth making: in this area of economic activity by the end of the XNUMXth century. about half of the country's population (mostly rural) worked. A large source of income for England was also the slave trade, the monopoly on which England achieved at the beginning XVIII in. Another source of initial capital was the attraction of funds from their own population, which had similar consequences to Holland: rising prices, an increase in customs duties, which in England was also associated with obvious protectionism. Having won a series of victories over Spain, Holland and France, England became a superpower, the world's largest colonial empire, which provided additional financial, material and labor resources. The demand for cloth caused not only a social, but also an industrial revolution in England, which covered almost all industries. The main inventions that appeared in England during the industrial revolution or that quickly found application in its industry were: the tulle machine (1783); steam engine, puddling oven (1784); power loom (1785); lathe (1798); planing machine (1802); locomotive (1814); railway (1824). Thus, as a result of the industrial revolution in England, the most modern metallurgy and mechanical engineering for that time developed. France The initial accumulation of capital in France was provided by the same main sources as in Holland and England, namely: banking (the main direction), foreign trade (France was the largest exporter after England, which was facilitated by the establishment of mutually favored regimes with almost all European countries other than England), colonization. All this allowed France in the 1830-1840s. to create a modern light industry for that time (mainly textile production), and in subsequent years - to carry out railway construction and create all branches of heavy industry. The Industrial Revolution was completed by the early 1860s, and by 1870 France had the largest metallurgical plants in Europe, 18 thousand km of railway network, 25 thousand steam engines, about 5 million people employed in industry. USA The financial and material conditions for the industrial revolution in the United States were created not only by the money of immigrants from Europe, but also by the talent of American engineers that has no analogues in the world (Slater's weaving machine, a simple emigrant worker; Singer's sewing machine; Fulton's steamer; Morse telegraph; McCormick's reaping machine etc.), which laid down the tradition of continuous rationalization for many years. The third feature of the industrial revolution in the United States is the outstripping pace of development of market infrastructure: for example, over 20 years (1830-1850), the total length of railways (which connected ore, coal mines and metallurgical industries into a single system) increased 300 times, which became the basis for the development of its own mechanical engineering, which by 1870 had taken the first place in the world both in terms of production volumes and the quality characteristics of the equipment produced. Of fundamental importance was the implementation of the capitalist agricultural reform, the main milestones of which were: the Homestead Act (1862) and the abolition of slavery (1863), which was the beginning of the development of agricultural production based on the cash labor of farmers. 4. Economic consequences of the collapse of the colonial system Colonialism existed as a system from the beginning of the XNUMXth century. until the second half of the XNUMXth century. The export of capital to the colonial countries and the growth of local industry inevitably gave rise to liberation movements. The First World War eliminated the prevailing in the XIX century. the German colonial empire, and the Second undermined the old empires - English, Dutch, French. In December 1960, the UN adopted the Declaration on the Presentation of Independence to All Colonial Nations. In place of the colonial world, a huge "third world" arose, embracing many new and old aligned states of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania. Dependence on foreign trade led to the preservation of power in backward countries in the hands of compradors - sellers and resellers of imported goods with an endless series of coups d'etat, replacing various military comprador groups at the helm. The standard of living of the majority of the population of the former colonies has changed little since independence. In a number of states in the 1970-1990s. "Third World" economic liberalization of the Western type began to gain more and more strength. Economic reforms made it possible to transfer the management of the economy into the hands of private companies, to create competition. The collapse of the colonial system had a serious impact on the economy of the former metropolises and developed countries in general. First of all, the national composition of the population of Western European countries has changed due to the very intensive immigration of residents of the former colonies, driven by poverty and the population, or simply wishing to take advantage of the fruits of a well-equipped Western way of life. The inexhaustible flow of immigrants from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Algeria and other countries to England, Holland, France, Belgium, and Scandinavian countries gives rise to serious economic problems, mainly in the field of employment. The former metropolises embarked on the path of constant self-sufficiency in food and raw materials. The Western European states began to speed up the development of their natural resources (in France, for example, they discovered uranium, natural gas, expanded the development of bauxite, iron ore, oil, etc.). Investments have increased in the extractive industries of the former European settlement colonies, which have long since become economically developed independent states - Australia, Canada, South Africa and others. There was a serious intensification of agriculture in Western Europe. As a result, the share of former colonies in international trade did not rise, as expected, but fell. 5. Common Market and European Union In the context of the beginning of the collapse of the colonial system, European countries returned to free trade, but at a higher level. Contracting countries have voluntarily delegated a certain part of their sovereignty to the governing body elected. That's what integration was all about. In the early 1950s France, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg established the European Steel and Coal Community in a special agreement on the basis of French and West German reserves of metal and fuel. The next step was the creation of a customs union, which provided for the free movement of goods, persons, capital and services within the member states of the European Community, as well as common customs tariffs in trade with states that were not part of the community. In Rome in 1957, the corresponding treaty was signed by the same six states. Thus, the first common market in the history of the economy was created (at the same time, the European association of the nuclear industry, Euratom, also arose). The creation of a common market required complex and lengthy work to harmonize national legislation, a crisis repeatedly arose, it was difficult to find a combination of the interests of the former monopolies in their former colonies with the integration of the economy in the common market. On the basis of integration, this problem was gradually resolved. Thus, the collapse of the colonial system pushed Europe not to decline, but to a serious economic and political upsurge. European integration gave impetus to American integration: the preparation and creation of a common market for North America - the United States, Mexico and Canada - was officially announced. 6. Development of the Western economy in the second half of the XNUMXth century The post-war restoration of the national economy of the developed European countries, which took 5-6 years, was greatly facilitated by American economic assistance under the Marshall Plan. According to this plan in 1948-1951. Some 77 billion dollars (partly on loan, partly as subsidies) were supplied to 17 countries in Europe by American allowances, raw materials, clothing, industrial equipment, spare parts and other goods. The local currency proceeds from the sale in the domestic markets of consumer American countries contributed to the reduction of inflation, turned into investments for the domestic heavy industry. The Marshall Plan had a beneficial effect on both the European and American economies. For 1947-1950. the volume of production of the main industries in Western Europe increased by more than half, and for such types as mineral fertilizers, cement, steel, vehicles, oil products - from 65 to 200%, all this meant the rapid development of agriculture, construction, communications. Foreign trade revived: for 1948-1952. exports from Western Europe have increased by half, and from Canada and the United States - even more. For 1950-1980 energy, and with it the entire economic complex of the West, made a new take-off: per capita electricity production in England in 1990 amounted to 5543, in France - 7442, in Germany - 7213, in Japan - 6478, in the USA - 12659 kW / h. These data indicate that there was a technological modernization of France, England and Japan. Predictions made at the beginning of the XNUMXth century that due to the uneven economic development of countries, imperialist wars are inevitable, have not been confirmed. The prediction about the complete monopolization of the economy and the elimination of free competition was not confirmed either. Along with the largest, including supranational corporations, hundreds of thousands of medium and small firms and enterprises successfully function in the national economy of the West. There is an opinion that the current stage of economic development can be considered "post-industrialization", in which the economic role of the transition from production to services, education, science is solved: economic management - from businessmen - to scientists and professionals. The technical and economic development and location of the modern economy is the subject of study for such disciplines as economic geography and world economics. Author: Shcherbina L.V. << Back: Feudal economy (Feudal economy. General characteristics. Feudal economy of France. Feudal economy of England. Feudal economy of Germany. Feudal economy of Russia. Feudal economy of Japan. Economy of a feudal city) >> Forward: World market (Great geographical discoveries. World market. Reformist path of transition to a market economy in Germany. Reformist path of transition to a market economy in Russia)
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