Resumo

The rapid integration of national markets after the Second World War gave rise to a complex global system, yet it is a system, which lacks a unified institu-tional framework. The asymmetrical nature of the process of market integration, the excessive degree of openness of many national economies and the behavior of the Japanese economy are three main factors behind the tensions in the current economic picture. The weakening of the nation state as a coordinating instrument for economic activity is to a large degree responsible for the present cacophony of the economic system. On the other hand, we see no clear indica-tion that the corporations involved in the transnationalization of the economy are capable of creating the institutional framework necessary for the coordi-nation of economic activity.