Trading for Good: How Global Trade Can be Made to Serve People not Money

Description

“Trade is the lifeblood of the global economy, but few would consider it a social good. Instead, our views on trade have polarized between two extremes: ‘free trade’ ideologues who regard trade as an end in itself, and ‘protectionists’ who view it as a destructive force to be contained. But there is another way to trade – one with the interests of people, not profit, at its heart. In this visionary work Christian Felber, founder of the Economy for the Common Good movement, offers a dazzling new paradigm for the global trading order. Confronting the ‘free trade religion’ which has reigned since Adam Smith, Felber champions an alternative approach in which trade serves the wider interests of society, incorporating the key issues of our time: human rights, climate change, and the growing divide richer and poorer countries. He proposes the groundbreaking idea of an ‘Ethical Trade Zone’, founded on a principled approach to tariffs and trade policies, and built with international cooperation on trade, taxation and labour. Penetrating and passionate, Christian Felber shows how this brave new economic world can be built democratically from the grassroots up, and how trading for good can be made a reality.” Cover Half Title About the Author Title Page Copyright Contents Tables I: Introduction II: Origins and critique of the religion of free trade Adam Smith: absolute advantages David Ricardo: comparative cost advantages The WTO’s “case for open trade” Criticism 1: global planned economy Criticism 2: mobile capital obliterates relative (national!) advantages Criticism 3: exchange rates forgotten Criticism 4: balanced trade not a goal Criticism 5: ecology Criticism 6: free trade between unequal partners increases their inequality Criticism 7: unequal distribution within countries Criticism 8: competition between business locations Criticism 9: concentration of power, loss of democracy and freedom Criticism 10: cultural diversity, innovation and resilience Criticism 11: meaning in work and life Criticism 12: preach wine, drink water: the double standards of the rich nations The twelve huge preconditions for a functioning free trade system III: The substantive alternative: ethical world trade 1: Significance of trade 2: For an ethical trade system within the United Nations 3: A pragmatic alternative: the Common Good Balance Sheet IV: The procedural alternative: sovereign democracy 1: The centrality of democracy 2: The democratic genesis of international (business) law 3: Encouraging examples 4: Questions for the trade convention Acknowledgements Bibliography Notes Index