What is ‘Understanding the Global Economy’?
For JC students taking H2 History, it is one of the featured topics under Paper 1 Theme II. In this topic, we will look at how the world economy grew in the post-WWII period until 2000. Also, we will examine the phenomenal growth of Taiwan and South Korea, which were known as ‘Asian Tigers’.
There are two major areas of study for the topic:
- Growth and Problems in the Global Economy
- Rise of Asian Tiger economies (South Korea and Taiwan) from 1970s to 1990
Browse the featured articles below to find out more.
What are Special Economic Zones of China?
Examine the functions of the Special Economic Zones formed in the early 1980s under Deng Xiaoping's leadership.
What was the Four Pests campaign?
Learn more about the hygiene campaign led by Mao Zedong during the Great Leap Forward that caused an ecological disaster.
What was the Income Doubling Plan in Japan?
Learn more about Ikeda Hayato's 1960 plan to double Japan's national income in ten years.
What is the steel trigger price mechanism?
Learn more about the trigger price mechanism used by the United States in 1978 to protect its domestic steel market.
What was the Bretton Woods gold standard system?
Learn more about the gold-dollar parity Bretton Woods System that shaped the global economy in the post-WWII phase.
Why did Nixon end the Bretton Woods system?
Learn more about the Gold Standard and how it affected the global economy.
How did the Gulf states dominate the global oil market?
Learn more about the rise of the OPEC member states from the Middle East.
Golden Age of Capitalism: Revisited
Learn more about the causes of the growth of the global economy in the post-war years.
What is the Monnet Plan?
Learn more about the economic recovery plan initiated by Jean Monnet in the 1950s.
What was the Marshall Plan?
Learn more about the European Recovery Program that helped to rehabilitate post-war Europe from 1948 to 1951.
How did Giant become the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world?
Learn more about Giant Manufacturing, which began as a family-run SME in Taiwan.
What does United Microelectronics do?
Learn more about Taiwan's first semiconductor firm that propelled it to an Asian Tiger status.
Why is Taiwan an Asian Tiger?
Learn more about the history of Taiwan, which undergone economic transformation as one of the four Asian Tigers.
What are chaebols in South Korea?
Find out more about the massive family-run business conglomerates that have dominated the South Korean economy.
How did the USA help Japan’s economy after WW2?
Examine the US contributions to Japan that brought about the latter's meteoric rise in the world economy.
When did the European Union start and why?
Learn more about the Maastricht Treaty of 1993 to understand the history of the European Union.
How does protectionism affect the global economy?
Learn more about examples of trade protectionism that have adversely impacted the world economy.
What are the Seven Sisters Oil Companies?
Find out more about the oil producing companies that affected global supply from the 1940s to 1970s.
What is the role of multinational corporations in the global economy?
Learn more about the role of MNCs and how they affect the growth of the global economy.
How did Japan emerge as a developed economy?
Find out more about the government policies that shaped Japan's economic miracle in the post-war years.
What is NAFTA and what is its purpose?
Learn more about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and how it affected trade liberalisation in the 1990s.
What caused Japan’s Lost Decade?
Learn more about the contributing factors that led to the disastrous economic stagnation in Japan.
What was the Plaza Accord?
Examine the economic developments that affected the Unites States, resulting in the creation of the Plaza Accord of 1985.
Why did Nixon abandon the gold standard in 1971?
Examine the contributing factors that explained the collapse of the fixed exchange rate system in 1971.
The Japanese Economic Miracle: Revisited
Anaylse the key factors that explain the phenomenal growth of the Japanese economy in the post-war years.
What caused the post-war economic miracle in Western Europe?
Examine the contributing factors that led to the rapid economic expansion in post-war Western Europe.
What is the Mexican debt crisis?
Learn more about the Mexican debt crisis of 1982 that impeded the global economy.
What is World Trade Organization and its function?
Find out how the World Trade Organization was formed in the 1990s.
What is GATT and its purpose?
Learn more about GATT to understand the role of a multilateral trading system in shaping the global economy.
What is the difference between the World Bank and the IMF?
Distinguish between the roles of the World Bank and the IMF, which were known as the pillars of the Bretton Woods system.
What is OPEC?
Learn more about the history of OPEC to understand its role in causing the energy crisis of the 1970s.
What were the twin deficits of USA?
Learn more about the twin deficits that hampered the economic development of USA.
What caused Japan’s economic miracle?
Learn more about the rapid economic transformation of Japan after World War Two.
What happened at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944?
Find out how the Bretton Woods system was established in the post-WWII period to understand its impact on the global economy.
How did trade protectionism affect economies in the 1970s?
Consider the causes and consequences of trade protectionism in the 1970s to understand the impacts of the Crisis Decades in affecting the global economy.
What caused the 1980s Third World Debt Crisis?
Examine the underlying factors and the consequences of the Third World Debt Crisis to understand how it affected the global economy.
What caused the energy crisis of the 1970s?
Examine the causes that led to the spike in oil prices that brought the world into the 'Crisis Decades'.
How did Taiwan become a successful export economy?
Did the government play the most critical role? Find out more about the key contributing factors that can explain the phenomenal growth of Taiwan from the 1960s to the 1990s.
How did South Korea become a developed nation?
How did South Korea position itself as one of the 'Four Asian Tigers'? Find out more about the important factors that contributed to the rapid economic development of South Korea from 1960s to 1990s.
What caused the end of the Golden Age of Capitalism?
Was trade protectionism the main reason for the global economic slowdown? Learn more about the obstacles that may explain the end of this remarkable economic growth from 1970 to 2000.
What caused the Golden Age of Capitalism?
How did the US became an economic powerhouse? Explore this topic to comprehend the post-war economic boom that included the establishment of the Bretton Woods system.