The process by which the whole world becomes a single market. This means that goods and services, capital, and labour are traded on a worldwide basis, and information and the results of research flow readily between countries. The rise of cheap sea transport and the telegram contributed to this process in the 19th century. Cheap air travel, the telephone, and the computer, together with the rising importance of multinational companies and general relaxation of controls on trade and international investment, continued the process in the 20th century. It is possible that the rise of the internet and the start which has been made on liberalizing international trade in services will continue this movement in the 21st century. The world has still a very long way to go, however, before its economy is fully globalized. In particular, international mobility of labour is tightly restricted, and poor transport and communications in most less developed countries (LDCs) mean that only the economies of the richer and more advanced countries are at all seriously globalized.

• lock-out
• locomotive principle
• logarithm
• logarithmic scale
• logistic curve
• log-linear function
• log-normal distribution
• log-rolling
• Lomé Convention
• London Inter Bank Offered Rate
• London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange
• long-dated security
• long position
• long rate
• long run
• long-run average cost
• long-run marginal cost
• long-run Phillips curve
• long-term interest rate
• long-term unemployment
• Lorenz curve
• loss
• loss leader
• Louvre Accord
• loyalty, brand