global economy

Cultural  

1. The international spread of capitalism, especially in recent decades, across national boundaries and with minimal restrictions by governments. The global economy has become hotly controversial. Critics allege that its props, free markets and free trade, take jobs away from well-paid workers in the wealthy nations while creating sweatshops in the poor ones. Its supporters insist that the free movement of capital stimulates investment in poor nations and creates jobs in them. The process is also called globalization.

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Example Sentences

It should, in theory, be a massive burden lifted from the global economy, which has suffered from the closure of a passage that’s supremely important for the global oil trade.

From Slate • Apr. 17, 2026

Earlier this week the International Monetary Fund warned that the war could plunge the global economy into recession, with the UK set to be the hardest hit of the world's advanced economies.

From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026

Higher energy prices, linked to fighting in the Middle East, have weighed on the global economy and on risky assets like cryptos.

From Barron's • Apr. 15, 2026

The assumption was that because it was so crucial to the global economy, no country would disrupt it deliberately.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

The tide rolls with corporate fortunes and the global economy, and relos are not singled out in census statistics.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times