Guest lecture on Ecological Economics - 7.11.2016 Module: M106GED-Agroecological Production Systems Centre for Agroecology, Water & Resilience
Part IΙ Trade & its discontents Irene Sotiropoulou
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Comparative advantage Factor endowments & technology Each region/country produces what they are more efficient at Even if they continue producing various or the same things
Each one with their class? Similar income
similar demands
Similar trade + similar imports/exports?? Or labour-intensive imports & exports go hidden? Food production & care work Reproduction work is imported by rich regions at zero or very low prices
Optimum currency areas If a single currency for many countries, overall welfare through trade increases Caveat: All single currency countries/regions need to be at the same level of development Is that possible?
A trade world in reverse A. Food security undermined because 1. People: forced to exit food production sector or work with no control over production 2. Quality food from poor countries: exported to the rich 3. Women, children, peasants are those with less access to food
A trade world in reverse B. Oil-based food security Transport Equipment Fertilisers Pesticides Packaging Food-processing Food-storage
highly vulnerable & unstable
A trade world in reverse C. Financialised food & land Food commodities in financial markets – affect prices worldwide (adverse effects for producers & consumers) Land grabs by corporations – their survival in stock markets depends on land depletion, displacement of communities & hunger
A trade world in reverse D. Small productions modes Absolutely necessary & destroyed Subsumed to capital through exchange Trade & monetary institutions articulate small-scale food production to capitalist centres adverse effects on producers & on modes of production
A trade world in reverse E. Debt & trade Adverse terms of trade: poor sell low, buy dire Need for means of payment: strong currency (currencies of rich/colonial countries) Pressure for exports & loans Resource depletion Lower prices for producers & poverty Quality food: exported for the rich Food producers: starve, migrate or change sector
A trade world in reverse F. Fair trade Under such conditions: Export-led production perpetuates monoculture & unequal exchange Does not address food security of producers nor of poor people in buyer countries Addresses the nutrition & cultural needs of middle-class consumers in buyer countries
