This text attempts an objective analysis of the discussions in the policy forums of the United Nations on the major issues in the world economy over the last half a century leading up to the millenium. It opens with a brief survey of the world economy since World War II. The following chapter presents a bird's-eye view of the issues discussed as well as a perspective on each of the issues. Starting with the issues of growth and stability in industrial countries, the study goes on to present discussions on the evolving issues of development of less developed countries. The volume devotes a substantial chapter on the efforts at establishment of the new international economic order. The more mundane matters of food needs of developing countries and their pervasive poverty are not lost sight of. Discussions on other major issues of interest and concern to developing countries, such as those of primary commodities, and the crisis of external debt, as well as issues of international trade, occupy a substantial space in the study.