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Unfair Trade: How Big Business Exploits the World's Poor - and Why It Doesn't Have To [Paperback]

Conor Woodman (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 12 May 2011

Many of our favourite brands now openly espouse 'ethical' credentials, so how is it that they can import billions of pounds' worth of goods from the developing world every year while leaving the people who produce them barely scraping a living? Are they being cynically opportunistic? Or is it that global commerce will always be incompatible with the eradication of poverty? And, if so, are charity and fair trade initiatives the only way forward?

In Unfair Trade Conor Woodman travels the world - from Nicaragua to the Congo and from Laos to Afghanistan - to establish the truth. In the course of his journeys he uncovers some truly shocking stories about the way big business operates, but he also sees a way forward that could reconcile the apparently irreconcilable.

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Unfair Trade: How Big Business Exploits the World's Poor - and Why It Doesn't Have To + The Fair Trade Revolution
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  • The Fair Trade Revolution by John Bowes Paperback £9.09

Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Random House Business (12 May 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1847940692
  • ISBN-13: 978-1847940698
  • Product Dimensions: 15.3 x 1.8 x 23.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 337,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Conor Woodman
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Review

Conor Woodman's Unfair Trade is proof that economics can be both vivid and accessible. By rootling through the developing world's sweatshops, plantations and mines he explores whether Big Business can also be Ethical Business. Read this book and you will never look at the goods in a high street shop window in quite the same way --Tim Butcher

Conor Woodman takes the dismal out of the dismal science. He's written an alternative travel guide to the global economy --Liam Halligan, Sunday Telegraph

Book Description

From fair trade to unfair trade: why the world's poor continue to lose out in the global market - and what can be done about it.
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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
8 reviews
4.6 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating exploration of fair trade 19 May 2011
By John Gibbs
Format:Paperback
Why can't the big businesses from whom we buy our food, gadgets, clothes and other stuff, do more to ensure that the people who farm it, fish it, assemble it or mine it work in safe conditions or get paid a sufficient sum to ensure that they aren't forced to live their lives on the edge of existence? That is a question which Conor Woodman poses at the start of this book.

The book goes on to describe the author's investigations in Nicaragua (unsafe diving for lobster), the UK (the ethical marketplace), China (sweat shops), Laos (rubber plantations), Congo (mines), Afghanistan (poppy cultivation), Tanzania (tea) and Côte d'Ivoire (cotton). The author is an economist, and so he does not just take as gospel the words of the fair trade lobbyists; in fact he takes the Fairtrade organisation to task over an inaccurate story on their website and he discusses his concerns over how Fairtrade certification has become commercialised.

However, it seems to me that the author has failed to display a similar degree of scepticism in relation to all of the "facts" which he encountered in writing the book. For example, he says that Congo "is the fifth largest producer of cassiterite (tin oxide) in the world. The multibillion-dollar global electronics trade would be virtually unthinkable without it." While Wikipedia confirms that Congo was fifth largest tin producer in 2006, its share is less than 5% of the world's supplies, suggesting that the electronics trade could quite easily survive without it if tin from Congo could be detected and blocked.

In the last chapter, the author is fulsome in his praise of Olam International, a company which buys cotton from farmers in Côte d'Ivoire.... Read more ›
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars First Hand Home Truths About International Trade 16 May 2011
By Rob Julian
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I found this book to be an easy rewarding read. The author has travelled to a handful of representative poor / developing countries and successfully managed to find and convey some first hand snippets of their reality back to my comfortable existence.

This book would be very accessible for the non-economist reader, as it confines itself to mostly just reporting reality, and does not veer into the theories and complex economic debates surrounding the subject. This could be seen as a weakness, but my opinion is that there are other books for the theory, and this provides a valuable complement to a mixed reading diet.

Most of the issues it raised did not surprise me, but just confirmed my worst views about the inequalities of the world trading system. However there were some interesting points which are typical of the anomalies and counter intuitive things you find when you actually visit a place rather than theorise from a distance. For example I did not know that for many western companies that show the "fair trade" label on their products, the cost to them is presently small, because the world price for the commodity in question is currently higher than the floor price set by the fair trade organisation. Also he explains that for Afghan farmers, it can prove easier to sell their produce of poppies (narcotics) than other produce because the produce from poppies is collected from them rather than them having to pay bribes on the way to the local market with other goods. I also found it interesting to know some first hand trivia, like how much Chinese workers actually earn, and how many hours they work.... Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 stars Free Trade 13 May 2012
By Persis Gretna
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a very revealing book. Have come to the conclusion that the people in poor countries would be better off with free trade because Fair Trade is anything but. I was ever suspicious of so called fair trade and it's upmarket prices. Rarely bought anything labeled fair trade and after reading this book certainly won't. Local produce for me when ever possible.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Read 29 July 2011
By CWW
Format:Paperback
'Unfair Trade' might be the most important book you ever read. Seriously.

If you have even the slightest concern about the provenance of the stuff you buy, or have ever decided to purchase so called `fair trade' goods over another choice, this is essential reading.

Conor Woodman takes to task the assumption that by buying "ethical" goods we are making a positive contribution to the lives of people in the developing world. As the book's title suggests, this is revealed as not always being the case. Whether it's food, electronics, minerals or rubber, no sector or product is safe from the scrutiny of Woodman's beady eye.

And no long-distance commentator is this. Experiences shared with Nicaraguan lobster divers and Congolese miners, in particular, had me wincing at what their daily lives involve, and Woodman's determination to live it himself gives this book immense credibility.

The real boon of this book, however, is that it doesn't just question the comfortable position taken by armchair liberals such as myself but it offers examples of how sustainable, ethical trade can succeed. Woodman has found companies that really make a difference to the communities they work with and you won't find a Fair Trade label in sight.

An fascinating book that deserves to be at the top of the bestseller lists.
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