World economy: under the sign of uncertainty

Abstract

This editorial is based on the idea that the present situation in world economy can be defined by the term uncertainty. The primary cause of this uncertainty is claimed to be the process of globalisation, which commences in the eighties and can be explained as the result of three phenomena: the policy of the opening up of the North American economy, the end of the Cold War and the revolution of Information Technologies. The second cause refers to the unknown factor of global consequences of North American dominance, which has recently been seen in the war on Iraq and the new situation of the Near East. Finally, it is pointed out that economists do not have a complete model to explain the implications of human actions; for example, there is no theory of globalisation nor of political–economic relations, and this creates a climate of uncertainty.