Methuen Treaty a popular replacement. Cypher and Dietz, in the book ″The Process of Economic Development″, say that: "Portugal specialized in a commodity that did not have the same growth potential as did cloth for England. Portugal's economy suffered consequently, as the productive structure and institutions were moulded in the direction of wine production. In fact, after trade was rapidly expanded following the Methuen Treaty in 1703, Portugal was left with a sizeable deficit as its exports to England fell short of its imports from England. The boom in Portuguese-English trade fortuitously coincided with a gold rush in Brazil, Portugal's colony, enabling
Secret treaty financial arrangements, and 'military understandings'" are commonly cited as one of the causes of World War I. For example, the Reinsurance Treaty of June 1887 between the German Empire and the Russian Empire (negotiated by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in order for Germany to avoid a two-front war), was a "highly secret treaty" in which the two powers pledged a three-year period to remain neutral should the other become involved in a war with a third country, unless Germany attacked Russia's longstanding ally France or Russia attacked Germany's longstanding ally Austria-Hungary. The use of "secret agreements and undertakings between