Answer:
The global economy can be a little frustrating because globalization and the global economy are terms that mean different things to different people. I have found that some people talk about the global economy and what they mean is the opening of markets and trade among nations—so that today you can buy products in a store that have been made everywhere around the world, and people everywhere around the world are buying products that we make.
That didn’t used to be the case, partly because transportation and communication technologies were inadequate and partly because there were a lot more political barriers and even wars going on that prevented people from trading with each other. But in the twentieth century—especially in the late twentieth century—there’s been a large-scale dismantling of political barriers to trade combined with a dramatic increase in communication and transportation technology that has opened up a new global market.