The American Economy and the Threat of War

Abstract

If we concentrate attention on the international scene we can distinguish four stages in the development of capitalism which may, for the sake of convenience, be designated as mercantilism, competitive industrialism, the first stage of imperialism, and the second stage of imperialism. Mercantilism lasted from the beginnings of capitalism until roughly the nineteenth century; competitive industrialism dominated most of the nineteenth century; the first stage of imperialism began in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and came to an end with World War II; and we are now in the second stage of imperialism.

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