Inflation may pave the way to a new era of globalisation

It could give the world some new hope. Price surges in the 19th and 20th centuries spurred the use of innovative technologies and changed government policies. For example, the steam engine opened up continents and oceans with railroads and steamships; the container cut the cost of moving goods after the 1970s; Harold James, a professor of history and international affairs at Princeton University, analyses the potential positivities wave of globalisation could bring.