Examination of globalization issues in a historical perspective. Reviews phenomena, institutions, e.g. empires, states, religion, corporation, and international agencies, and policies which enabled exchange of commodities, people, and cultures. Explores empirical evidence on growth and development for different world regions and historians' and social scientists' interpretations. Examines benefit of maintaining fine balance between quantitative evidence and historical analysis in assessing waning international integration of societies, markets, and cultures from first wave of European expansion to the present.
