The peak of the development of international trade, and with it the formation of the world market, was the 19th-20th centuries. This was due to the active involvement of new countries in international trade. This period is also characterized by the rapid growth of large monopolies, which quickly seized dominant positions and controlled sales.
Incentives for the development of international trade
The phrase "international trade" appeared thanks to the Italian economist Antonio Margaretti, he first used this term in his treatise "The Power of the Popular Masses in the North of Italy". He described this process as the achievement of significant volumes and stable commodity-money relations in a process that originated in antiquity.
In the 19th century, the role of foreign trade expansion increases, this is due to the domination of monopolies, which allows them to extract super profits. Since the beginning of the XIX century. until 1914, the volume of world trade increased by almost a hundred times. Of course, the impetus for this was the technical progress in the industrialized countries - England, Holland. Machine production makes it possible to establish large-scale and regular imports of raw materials from economically less developed countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as the export of consumer goods.
Free international trade period
Since the main inhibiting factor for the development of trade in the world was various restrictions on the movement of goods and services, their elimination at the beginning of the 19th century became a powerful impetus for the formation of free trade. British representatives of the classical school of economics proclaimed the abolition of the policy of protectionism and in the early 1840s there were only tariffs on imported wheat. And in 1846 Great Britain introduced a permit for all agricultural products.
But expectations did not materialize, and wheat prices did not decline, since no country could import the necessary consignments into the UK. Despite this, the 1850s and 1860s are considered to be the era of free trade and associated economic prosperity. The next step was the adoption of minimum trade barriers in the years 1850-1880.
With the development of ocean shipping in 1870, Great Britain faced increasing competition. Towards the end of this decade, after a prolonged economic crisis, Europe began to return to a policy of protectionism. At the same time, there was a surge of nationalism, which caused political instability and forced countries to help at any cost to increase revenues for the purchase of weapons. And in states such as the United States and Germany, nationalism questioned their development without restricting competition with Great Britain, which at that time was the leader in industrial production. Thus, the popular idea of protecting young industries was born.
