Borderless Economics

[HenryTo]

Great holiday reading:

http://www.amazon.com/Borderless-Economics-Chinese-Turtles-Capitalism/dp/0230113826

Interview with the author, Robert Guest (Global Business Editor at the Economist):

http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/11/diasporas

A century ago, migrants often crossed an ocean and never saw their homelands again. Today, they call—or Skype—home the moment their flight has landed, and that’s just the beginning. Thanks to cheap travel and easy communication, immigrants everywhere stay in intimate contact with their native countries, creating powerful cross-border networks.

[rffrydr]

....Long before this there were the "wandering jews" whose very statelessness was behind such empire builders as the Rothschilds. A brother owning a bank in every european power was one of the great "global" networks of its time.

"Rothschild family banking businesses pioneered international high finance during the industrialisation of Europe and were instrumental in supporting railway systems across the world and in complex government financing for projects such as the Suez Canal. The family bought up a large proportion of the property in Mayfair, London. Major businesses directly founded by Rothschild family capital include Alliance Assurance (1824) (now Royal & SunAlliance); Chemin de Fer du Nord (1845); Rio Tinto Group (1873); Société Le Nickel (1880) (now Eramet); and Imétal (1962) (now Imerys). The Rothschilds financed the founding of De Beers, as well as Cecil Rhodes on his expeditions in Africa and the creation of the colony of Rhodesia. From the late 1880s onwards, the family controlled the Rio Tinto mining company.

The Japanese government approached the London and Paris families for funding during the Russo-Japanese War. The London consortium's issue of Japanese war bonds would total £11.5 million (at 1907 currency rates).[18]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothschilds

Plus ca change....
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