This eleventh edition therefore comes out at a time when we are more aware than ever before of how events in the global economy influence each country’s economic fortunes, policies, and political debates. The world that emerged from World War II was one in which trade, financial, and even communication links between countries were limited. Nearly two decades into the 21st century, however, the picture is very different. Globalization has arrived, big time. International trade in goods and services has expanded steadily over the past six decades thanks to declines in shipping and communication costs, globally negotiated reductions in government trade barriers, the widespread outsourcing of production activities, and a greater awareness of foreign cultures and products. New and better communications technologies, notably the Internet, have revolutionized the way people in all countries obtain and exchange information. International trade in financial assets such as currencies, stocks, and bonds has expanded at a much faster pace even than international product trade. This process brings benefits for owners of wealth but also creates risks of contagious financial instability. Those risks were realized during the recent global financial crisis, which spread quickly across national borders and has played out at huge cost to the world economy. Of all the changes on the international scene in recent decades, however, perhaps the biggest one remains the emergence of China—a development that is already redefining the international balance of economic and political power in the coming century.

第十一版出版之际，我们比以往任何时候都更加意识到全球经济中的事件如何影响每个国家的经济命运、政策和政治辩论。第二次世界大战后出现的世界，各国之间的贸易、金融甚至通讯联系都受到限制。然而，进入21世纪近20年，情况却大不相同。全球化已经到来，大好时机。过去60年来，由于航运和通讯成本下降、全球谈判减少政府贸易壁垒、生产活动广泛外包以及对外国文化和产品的认识提高，国际货物和服务贸易稳步扩大。新的和更好的通信技术，特别是因特网，已经彻底改变了各国人民获取和交换信息的方式。货币、股票和债券等金融资产的国际贸易增长速度甚至远高于国际产品贸易。这一过程给财富所有者带来了好处，但也带来了传染性金融不稳定的风险。这些风险是在最近的全球金融危机中意识到的，这场危机迅速跨越国界，给世界经济造成了巨大的损失。然而，在近几十年来国际舞台上发生的所有变化中，也许最大的变化仍然是中国的出现——这一发展已经在重新定义下一个世纪的国际经济和政治力量的平衡。