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When civilization went beyond the stage of Neolithic villages, when cities and cultural activities developed, external trade played an important role. It was not possible for a city to develop without a network of long distance exchanges. They made non‐domestic activities possible and so favored the development of institutional and political structures. The same is true of the cities of the Ancient world, of the medieval cities (French Historians contended whether trade or urbanization was first; but could they develop without each other?). It is true that the result was not an homogeneous society, but centers with a high level of culture and organization in the midst of a traditional peasantry world.

Classical approaches to the role of trade in encouraging the economic development of poorer nations, based on the work of David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith, & others, are criticized for failing to account for adverse consequences of trade liberalization, including the migration of capital away from poorer countries & the inability of devaluation to restore trade equilibrium. It is argued that while trade must indeed play an important role in development, this role should be more along the lines originally suggested in eighteenth-century tracts than those developed subsequently. 1 Table, 5 Figures, 13 References. Adapted from the source document.

Examines European trade with Africa since the 1960's as well as economic ties in the context of the foreign debt problem.