Monetary Nationalism Is a Curse

Here's a passage from the not-to-be-missed book by Benn Steil and Manuel Hinds, Money, Markets & Sovereignty (Yale University Press, 2009), pages 94-95:

There are many reasons why economies became dramatically more integrated after 1870, both within and across countries.  Among these are tremendous technological advances in transportation and communication, particularly the railroad, steamship, telegraph, cable, and refrigeration.  The spread of free-trade thinking from Britain to the...