4 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Janet Abu-Lughod's 1989 world-systems analysis of the 13th century global trading network — centered on the Islamic Middle East and connecting China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Europe through overlapping trading circuits.
Peter Frankopan's 2015 reinterpretation of world history centered on Central Asia and the Silk Roads rather than Western Europe — arguing that the region between China and the Mediterranean has always been the world's true center of gravity.
Adam Smith's 1776 foundational text of modern economics — arguing through the pin factory, division of labor, and invisible hand metaphor that markets coordinate economic activity more efficiently than central direction — the founding document of free market economics.
The English (later British) joint-stock trading company that governed large swathes of South Asia — the template for the modern corporation and for corporate imperialism.