 global economy: a Europe‐centered tale?  the point of view matters  a possible unifying framework: market integration  globalization: a fashionable issue  globalizing the Western paradigm = free‐ market and democracy for all (eurocentrism)  globalization and history  a «big issue» only after 1989  globalization: a multifaceted phenomenon (cultural, political, and environmental)  globalization: focussing on the economy and on its integration, with reference to:  commodity market  capital market  labor market  Timing: before (and after) the two waves  Industrialization/deindustrialization or the creation of a global “Gap”  Integrating trade, capital and labour Fig. 2.1: a stylized trend of globalization (1860-2000)  the pre‐industrial world economy  19th century: the impact of industrialization  between the two World Wars: the western retreat  the “Golden Age”  recent trends: Asia’s return  Fernand Braudel’s model core‐periphery “economy‐world: is the economy of just a portion of the planet to the degree that it forms an economic whole”  Immanuel Wallerstein’s «world‐system» • adding the dependency theory to the model  growing at the expenses of somebody  cycles (Malthus) vs growth (Smith)  types of economic growth … and self‐sustained growth (John D. Gould)  Rostow’s stages of economic growth  catching‐up: Gerschenkron’s advantage of backwardness  from growth to convergence  convergence graphically exemplified  variables measuring convergence  The “secret ingredient” or a complex frame‐ work?  growth and convergence  growth but divergence  no growth but convergence  no growth and divergence  convergence and Europe‐centered attitudes  convergence: a never‐ending story + the issue of increasing inequality (Piketty)  rejecting the idea of growth: back to cycles? Latouche’s “happy degrowth”  environment and natural resources should be considered