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

by Christian Felber (Author)

• New

  Hardcover
  2019

  $100.82

  Trade is the lifeblood of the global economy, but few would consider it a social good. Instead, our views of trade have polarized between two extremes - `free trade' ideologues on the one hand who regard trade as an end in itself, and on the other hand `protectionists' who view it as a destructive force to be contained. In this landmark work Christian Felber, founder of the Economy for the Common Good movement, offers a visionary new paradigm for the global trading order.

  Confronting the `free trade religion' which has reigned since the time of Adam Smith, Felber champions an alternative approach in which trade serves the wider interests of society, addressing such issues as human rights, climate change, and imbalances between richer and poorer countries. At the heart of Felber's approach is the idea of an international `ethical trade zone', underpinned by a principled approach to tariffs and trade policies, and by the creation of new global bodies to facilitate international cooperation on trade, taxation and labour practices. Felber goes on to show that such an approach can be built democratically from the grassroots up, and outlines how his vision can be made a reality.