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Ec120 Week 1 Research Paper

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UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
SESSION 2014–15

EC120 The World Economy in Historical Perspective Term Paper 2
By George Estephane: 1304052

Describe the steps taken in Western Europe during the two decades after 1945 to foster international trade. Assess the role of trade in Western Europe’s recovery from depression and war, making clear how relevant economic theories can be applied to support your assessment.
This essay will focus on the measures Western Europe undertook in order to adopt and nurture international trade throughout the period 1945-1965. One will seek to assess the extent to which these steps were successful in achieving this, as well as classifying the importance of trade in the recovery from depression and war in Western Europe.

The aftermath of the Second World War had left the economies of the ‘old great’ powers exhausted. Western European countries had …show more content…

To do this, we also need to look at international trade in the context of economic development as a whole. This is achieved by focusing not only on how international trade helped recovery, but also looking at how other factors contributed to Western Europe’s recovery from war and depression.
The GATT has played a critical role in encouraging nations, particularly in Western Europe, to trade. The GATT freed Europe’s regional and international trade from tariffs, quotas and other forms of trade barriers, and has often been hailed as a key factor in stimulating the post-war economic recovery, and preventing a return to the catastrophe of the interwar period. Despite various weaknesses, the GATT succeeded in establishing commitments among major countries that would help create a stable environment for world trade that fostered the post-war rise in trade and

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