>Why has the capitalist world become more dependent on world trade (X/GDP
>1950 = 8 percent. X/GDP 1998=26.5 percent)?
Why use the word "dependent"? Is a leopard dependent on its spots? A century or two ago you could have asked why capitalism was so "dependent" on creating national markets. The system is voracious; it must grow in volume & scope. "Dependent" sounds like a 12-steppers way of putting this.
What was X/GDP in 1870? 1913?
Doug