The Truth about Trade: The Real Impact of Liberalization - Softcover

George, Clive

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1848132980 ISBN 13: 9781848132986

Verlag: Zed Books Ltd, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

Is it really true that the trade agreements pursued in the World Trade Organisation and through regional negotiations are vital for eliminating world poverty and achieving a sustainable future? Or is trade liberalization the villain of the piece? Clive George's provocative book examines the evidence, exposes the myths, and presents challenging new proposals for comprehensive reform of the global trading system. Based on ten years of in-depth research into the impacts of trade agreements on sustainable development, it reveals that few of the claims made by the major players stand up to scrutiny, while many of the counter-claims lack rigour in their analysis of key issues. It cuts through the rhetoric with illuminating anecdotes from the author's experience of working with trade negotiators, to present a more realistic view of their motives and the outcomes they achieve. Each of the components of the negotiation agenda is examined in turn, to identify the most likely economic, social and environmental impacts of liberalising trade in manufactured goods, agriculture, services, investment, intellectual property rights and the other rules by which trade is governed. In some cases the rhetoric approximates to reality while in many others the negotiated outcomes do more harm than good to both development and its environmental sustainability.

From its analysis of the relationships between trade, social transformation, economic growth and environmental integrity, the book concludes with proposals for how the world trade regime might be reformed to help tackle the world's most pressing problems instead of making them worse.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Clive George followed a career in industrial management before joining the University of Manchester to undertake research and consultancy on the use of impact assessment techniques in international development. As a Senior Research Fellow in the University's School of Environment and Development he was principal advisor to the World Bank on the evaluation and development of impact assessment systems in the Middle East and North Africa and has acted as a consultant to the OECD, UNEP and other international agencies. Through his work for UNEP and the European Commission he has become one of the world's leading experts on assessing the interacting economic, social and environmental impacts of international trade agreements. His books include Environment and the City (2008) with Peter Roberts and Joe Ravetz, Impact Assessment and Sustainable Development (2007) with Colin Kirkpatrick, and Environmental Assessment in Developing and Transitional Countries (2000) with Norman Lee. He has published numerous articles on sustainable development, impact assessment, global governance and international trade.
Clive George followed a career in industrial management before joining the University of Manchester to undertake research and consultancy on the use of impact assessment techniques in international development. As a Senior Research Fellow in the University's School of Environment and Development he was principal advisor to the World Bank on the evaluation and development of impact assessment systems in the Middle East and North Africa and has acted as a consultant to the OECD, UNEP and other international agencies. Through his work for UNEP and the European Commission he has become one of the world's leading experts on assessing the interacting economic, social and environmental impacts of international trade agreements. His books include Environment and the City (2008) with Peter Roberts and Joe Ravetz, Impact Assessment and Sustainable Development (2007) with Colin Kirkpatrick, and Environmental Assessment in Developing and Transitional Countries (2000) with Norman Lee. He has published numerous articles on sustainable development, impact assessment, global governance and international trade.

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The Truth About Trade

The Real Impact of Liberalization

By Clive George

Zed Books Ltd

Copyright © 2010 Clive George
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-84813-298-6

Contents

Boxes, vi, 
Preface, vii, 
Acknowledgements, xi, 
Abbreviations, xiii, 
ONE | Agendas, 
1 From the Corn Laws to Seattle, 3, 
2 A matter for negotiation, 11, 
3 Claims and counter-claims, 18, 
TWO | Impacts, 
4 Climbing the development ladder, 31, 
5 Food for thought, 51, 
6 Invisible earnings, 68, 
7 TRIPs abroad, 86, 
8 Filling the gaps, 97, 
9 The rules of the game, 108, 
THREE | Responses, 
10 Outflanking measures, 125, 
11 Rewriting the rules, 133, 
12 An end and a beginning, 148, 
Notes, 154, 
Bibliography, 157, 
Index, 172, 

CHAPTER 1

FROM THE CORN LAWS TO SEATTLE

The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order [those who live by profit] ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it. (Smith 1904 [1776]: 222)

The term trade liberalization describes the process through which countries negotiate and agree to ever tighter and more extensive rules of international trade. Adam Smith would not have approved. As an advocate of free trade he was deeply suspicious of any law or regulation introduced to govern it. In Smith's view any trade rules proposed by commercial organizations warranted particular scrutiny, for what were liable to be deceitful attempts to increase their own profits at the expense of the general public.

Proponents of the current trade liberalization agenda claim that it is essential for globally sustainable development. This chapter begins with a review of the background to the research programme through which that claim has been evaluated. It goes on to examine the history of the sustainable development idea, and the even longer history of arguments for and against free trade. The classical economists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were sharply divided in their views on the economic effects, with varying attitudes to the social and environmental ones. Their neoclassical successors have avoided the problems by taking a different approach. After reviewing the arguments the chapter concludes with a brief summary of the approach taken in the rest of the book.

THE BATTLE IN SEATTLE

In December 1999, the last month of the last year of the last century of the last millennium, the drive for what is called free trade was brought to a halt in a blaze of publicity. At the end of the previous month ministers and senior government officials from all around the world had met in Seattle to launch a new round of negotiations in the World Trade Organization, to be known as the Millennium Round. It never took place. The conference ended in chaos, with protesters blocking the streets and delegates from poor countries rejecting the proposals presented by rich ones.

Since the 'battle in Seattle' opinion has been divided on whether free trade is fair trade, and whether it helps or hinders efforts to reduce world poverty and halt unsustainable exploitation of the natural environment. One side of this debate takes the view that trade liberalization is essential for sustained growth of the global economy, that this growth drives the development of developing countries, and that it increases the resources available for protecting the environment. The other side argues that the growth due to trade has been unevenly spread between countries, that it has been associated with widening income gaps in both poor countries and rich ones, and that it has had damaging effects on the natural environment both locally and globally. The liberalization of world trade is seen on the one hand as being an essential component of sustainable development, and on the other as being detrimental to it. Intermediate positions argue that international trade can make a positive contribution to sustainable development, but that the opposite can occur if the rules by which trade is governed are inappropriate.

During the preparations for the Seattle conference the European Commission embarked on an ambitious attempt to clarify the issues. On the initiative of Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy (later to become Director General of the WTO), an independent study was commissioned to assess the effects of the Seattle proposals on sustainable development. The study, known as a sustainability impact assessment (SIA), would show how big the benefits were and whether the public concerns were justified. Through a combination of consultative processes and technical analysis it aimed to contribute to a public dialogue that would, if possible, defuse the arguments. That first attempt achieved little. In terms of heading off the Seattle confrontation it achieved nothing. The study was of necessity highly superficial, having been rushed through in the few months leading up to the conference. It did no more than confirm that the potential benefits were genuine and that many of the opposing concerns were equally genuine (Kirkpatrick et al. 1999). Anything more useful would need a fuller examination.

After the failure of the Seattle conference the idea of evaluating the complex impacts of trade agreements before they are agreed was put on ice, until the WTO regrouped to revive the negotiations at the 2001 Ministerial Conference in Doha. Unlike Seattle in the USA, Doha, in the Gulf state of Qatar, is not an easy place to get into for banner-waving protesters. In parallel with the choice of location, European and American trade officials had taken note of the objections to the Seattle proposals and had amended them accordingly. The Doha agenda would be a development agenda, with the needs of low-income countries to the fore, along with the need for development to be environmentally sustainable. The conference proceeded smoothly, agreement was reached, and the Doha Round of negotiations began. Commissioner Lamy's idea of undertaking sustainability impact assessments of the likely consequences was revived as well, now with sufficient time and resources to examine the issues in more depth.

The cost of the Seattle study, including the amount spent on background research and developing the methodology, was about a hundred thousand euros. Since then the EC has spent around ten million euros on trade SIAs, accounting for about 10 per cent of the annual budget of its Directorate General for Trade (European Commission 2003a). Nearly one and a half million euros have been devoted to assessing the impacts of the WTO Doha agenda, with the rest spent on similar studies of Europe's bilateral and regional trade agreements with individual countries or groups of countries. The level of expenditure reflects a decision of the European Council at its 2001 meeting in Goteborg, which committed the European Commission to assessing the impacts of all major policy proposals on globally sustainable development (European Commission 2001a), with particular emphasis on trade agreements (European Commission 2003b).

The impacts identified by these studies are many and complex. Some are good for some people but bad for others....

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Zed Books Ltd
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1848132980
• ISBN 13: 9781848132986
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 192
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Buchpark GmbH; gpsr@buchpark.de; ; Krügerweg 1; Trebbin; Brandenburg; 14959; Deutschland