Summer 1965. “Mariacristina! How long have you been on that swing?” “Mum, you know I love it...”. It’s a summer Sunday afternoon. My mother is busy in the kitchen preparing dinner. Every now and then she casts a glance at me swinging in the garden of our house in the mountains in Usseglio. My swing is beautiful. It’s red. When I swing, I see the whole world rise and fall around me. Thirty-seven years later. Massimo, my husband, has resigned from his company. One day, last spring, he came home and said with excitement in his voice: “I’ve found a small company that makes keys... it seems they are selling it. Should I try to buy it?”. “Massimo, let’s not miss this opportunity”. A few days later we found ourselves in front of a notary: “Mr. Bianchi, please, sign here: from this moment on Keyline is yours”. After making a toast with our glasses filled with Prosecco, Massimo asked me: “What do you think about being Keyline’s Chief Executive?”

[In this book, the author's] analysis of the effects and causes of capitalist underdevelopment in Latin America present [an] account of ... Latin American history. [The author] shows how foreign companies reaped huge profits through their operations in Latin America. He explains the politics of the Latin American bourgeoisies and their subservience to foreign powers, and how they interacted to create increasingly unequal capitalist societies in Latin America.-Back cover.

Presented at a symposium held in 1990 to celebrate the Getty Museum's acquisition of the only known illuminated copy of The Visions of Tondal, twenty essays address the celebrated bibliophilic activity of Margaret of York; the career of Simon Marmion, a favorite artist of the Burgundian court; and The Visions of Tondal in relation to illustrated visions of the Middle Ages. Contributors include Maryan Ainsworth, Wim Blockmans, Walter Cahn, Albert Derolez, Peter Dinzelbacher, Rainald Grosshans, Sandra Hindman, Martin Lowry, Nigel Morgan, and Nigel Palmer.

Global value chains (GVCs) powered the surge of international trade after 1990 and now account for almost half of all trade. This shift enabled an unprecedented economic convergence: poor countries grew rapidly and began to catch up with richer countries. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, however, the growth of trade has been sluggish and the expansion of GVCs has stalled. Meanwhile, serious threats have emerged to the model of trade-led growth. New technologies could draw production closer to the consumer and reduce the demand for labor. And trade conflicts among large countries could lead to a retrenchment or a segmentation of GVCs. World Development Report 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains examines whether there is still a path to development through GVCs and trade. It concludes that technological change is, at this stage, more a boon than a curse. GVCs can continue to boost growth, create better jobs, and reduce poverty provided that developing countries implement deeper reforms to promote GVC participation; industrial countries pursue open, predictable policies; and all countries revive multilateral cooperation.