Global Trade

Past Mistakes, Future Choices

Greg Buckman

Trade, along with the free movement of capital, is at the heart of today’s international economy. But international trade is an intensely political and contested subject. This book traces the history of global trade, the impact of current global trading arrangements on poverty, inequality and the environment, its hugely differential consequences for high-income and low-income countries, and future options for revised trading arrangements. It argues that factors like future fossil fuel costs, global warming and the economic imbalances between North and South are likely to impel a radical reshaping of the WTO and the principles enshrined in its agreements. It outlines the diverse proposals advocated by the global justice movement to make global trade more sustainable.

Contents

• Introduction
• A History of Global Trade
• Global Trade Negotiations
• High-income Countries and Trade
• Low-Income Countries and Trade
• Trade, Poverty and Inequality
• Trade and the Environment
• The Future of Oil
• The Future of Global Balance of Payments Problems
• The Policies of the Global Justice Movement
• Global Trade: Lessons for the Future

About the Author

Greg Buckman is an economist and researcher with a long involvement in the Australian environment movement. He is the former national finance manager for the Wilderness Society of Australia and currently treasurer of the Australian Greens. He is the author of Globalization: Tame it or Scrap it? (Zed Books 2004).

Excerpt

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