"And the free flow of money is probably the best example of our global economy because money from one country or region can now easily get invested in another country or region," says Dr. Walden, a North Carolina Cooperative Extension specialist. "And we can definitely see this with our country. The U.S. has become a very popular place for international financial investments. That is, money being created and earnings being created in other countries and those folks coming here to the U.S. to invest that money. And we also see the reverse.

"It's very easy now for U.S. citizens to invest in foreign countries. And you don't have to go there and to that," he adds. "There are mutual funds for example that automatically do that. So this back and forth of money has become a key characteristic of a global economy.

"There has been one possible downside, and that is that the central bank -- for example, our Federal Reserve or the Bank of England or the Bank of Japan -- traditionally relied on their ability to control the flow of money as a way to control the ups and downs of the business cycles. With money now freely flowing around the world, it becomes more difficult for those central banks to do just that."