Management of the world economy

This book has two basic aims: to provide a simple and non-technical introduction to the problems of the modern international economy; and to consider how some of these problems might be overcome, or at least lessened, by more effective management of that economy than exists today. It is not an economic textbook. It is designed as much for the educated layman as for the student; and it is concerned as much with international politics as it is with international economies.

Political and economic issues are anyway not easy to disentangle. It is sometimes said that in domestic societies today most of the problems of politics are economic in origin. This is as true in the international as in the domestic field: many of the most fundamental political issues between states today are the economic conflicts that divide them.

The book is thus concerned with the politics of international economies: what is nowadays sometimes, somewhat inaccurately, termed political economy (that term was originally applied to what is simply now called economics). It therefore examines the problems that arise among states concerning trade, concerning the international monetary system, concerning development aid, energy and energy prices, commodities, food and employment questions. It considers the principal causes of dispute among states about such matters. It describes the international institutions which already exist for examining these problems and how far they have proved adequate in confronting them.