EconAir

The Mughal emperor Shah Alam hands a scroll to Robert Clive, the governor of Bengal, which transferred tax collecting rights in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company.  Illustration: Benjamin West (1738–1820)/British Library INTRODUCTION   The English East India Company (EIC) was an innovative new type of corporation. It is a model for the modern limited-liability, stockholder-funded modern corporation. The EIC also illustrates that the prototype of the modern multinational corporation was created to develop global trade.   HISTORIC BACKGROUND   The creation of the English East India Company (EIC) and its Dutch equivalent (the VOC) were part of the 400-year expansion of European power, trade, and influence. Much  of the rest of the world became colonies, part of imperial empires. By 1600, both England and Holland had a wealthy merchant and shipping class, bankers, substantial liquid capital (wealth) not tied up in land, and risk-takers. These categor...

President Trump Might Washington, like Rome, fall victim to imperial overstretch? Could military force abroad eventually have to be withdrawn because of bankruptcy at home? Might the whole idea of America eventually be challenged and destroyed by some charismatic new faith: some fundamentalist variant on Christianity? Or will nature disrupt America’s new world order? Robert Harris, "Does Rome's fate await the US?," The Mail on Sunday , October 12, 2003 (1) INTRODUCTION:  FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC POLITICS This post will discuss American foreign policy, with an emphasis on economic aspects. It will focus on the structure of America's trade treaties and policies, and the interaction of America's foreign economic policies and domestic politics. The companion post,  "Pax Americana": The World That America Made , the will discuss America's projection of global power and influence through military power, security arra...