Het jaarlijkse boekenoverzicht van The Economist wijst nog eens op het boek More van Philip Coggan over 10.000 jaar economische geschiedenis. The Times was lovend en begint zijn recensie als volgt:
In 1850 it cost 35 cents to send a bushel of grain from Chicago to Liverpool. By 1912 steamships had cut the cost by 25 cents. That quarter-dollar changed the world. As it became easier and cheaper to buy and sell things internationally, trade soared. Exports accounted for almost 15 per cent of the world economy.
Wheat from the American plains and, after the development of refrigeration, beef from the Argentine pampas was shipped to Europe. The result was cheap food for workers and a rise in their real standard of living,” Philip Coggan says. “Back then, free trade could be a ‘populist’ policy.” However, European politicians then decided to put national pride above economic self-interest by opting for war
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