Economic ties between different states take shape and develop over a long time. Today, many people, starting with students and ending with pensioners, easily use the terms "international economy", "crisis", and "gross domestic product". However, there were times when all these concepts and definitions did not exist. Economic cooperation between countries boiled down to a simple exchange of goods. Silk fabrics were made in China, and cotton in Central Asia. In Europe, silver was mined and other metals were smelted. The fastest sailing ships were built here, which were used both for trade with "overseas countries" and for military operations.
At a certain stage in the development of human civilization, it was believed that the international economy is a certain number of national economic systems that exchange
commodity products among themselves
. Spain delivered wine and fruit to England, and in return received
looms and steam engines. "Games of exchange," as one famous researcher of the development of trade relations calls this process, originated in ancient times and continue to operate at the present time. Of course, the modern international economy is a complex and multifaceted system that does not at all resemble its ancestor.
In this context, it should be noted that some fundamental principles have survived. Only the
exchange of goods now occurs in a variety of ways. Today, any citizen of the European Union has the opportunity to purchase the item or complex household product he needs directly from the manufacturer, which is territorially located in China. This internationalization of the economy became possible due to the emergence and rapid development of information technology. It should be added that under this term is meant not only the sale of goods, patents, machinery or financial resources.
A characteristic feature that distinguishes the current situation is the opportunity for any person not only to purchase goods in this way, but also to find a job outside the state of which he is a citizen. The international economy of an individual has never provided mechanisms of this kind in history. There is reason to say that processes of this kind undermine the foundations of nation-states. But, on the other hand, they have the opportunity to acquire new technologies, upgrade existing enterprises and create new ones, thereby improving the living standards of their citizens.
Joint ventures have become commonplace these days . At the same time, the emergence of multinational corporations was recorded more than a hundred years ago. The peculiarity of such a company is that its nationality cannot be determined. Its structural divisions are located, figuratively speaking, on all continents. And the above examples do not exhaust the list of characteristic features that the international economy has acquired today. The process of its development will continue in the future.