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https://mronline.org/2022/09/15/the-global-south-has-lost-152-trillion-through-unequal-exchange-since-1960/>
"Dependency and world-systems theorists have long argued that “unequal
exchange” is a key driver of global inequality. Since wages and natural
resource prices are much lower in the global South than the North, poor
countries must export many more units of embodied labour and resources than
they import in order to achieve a monetary balance of trade. This creates a
constant transfer of labour and ecology from the periphery to the core,
developing the latter but impoverishing the former.
In a recent paper in
New Political Economy that I co-authored with Jason
Hickel from the University of London, and Huzaifa Zoomkawala, a data analyst
based in Karachi, we quantify the value that has been appropriated from the
South through unequal exchange since 1960. To do this, we use a method
developed by the economist Gernot Köhler. Köhler proposes that we can use
purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates constructed by the World Bank to
value the South’s exports at the North’s price level. By subtracting the actual
market price that the South received for its exports from this figure, we can
measure the commodities appropriated by the imperialist states, in terms of the
Northern price of those commodities.
Using Köhler’s method, we find that in 2017 the ‘emerging and developing
economies,’ as defined by the IMF, lost $2.2 trillion worth of goods to the
‘advanced economies.’ This represents an enormous loss for the South. These
resources could have ended extreme poverty 15 times over, but instead they were
transferred
gratis to the core. This windfall is of enormous benefit to the
centres of empire. For instance, in 2017 the U.S. gained $2,634
per person
through unequal exchange, while the average Australian citizen received $3,116
from the South. Since 1990, the North’s annual gains from unequal exchange have
sat at 5.2% of GDP, considerably higher than the North’s annual growth rate. In
other words, if not for imperialist plunder, aggregate income in the North
would have been
declining for decades. The extraordinary levels of material
consumption currently enjoyed in the North are predicated upon exploitation and
poverty in the periphery."
Via bumi sunami and Dashboard Vogon.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
