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Trade, Globalisation, and the Fight Against Poverty
Kevin Watkins ,
Penny Fowler
 Trade is one of the most
powerful forces linking our lives, and a source of unprecedented wealth.
Yet millions of the world’s poorest people are being left behind.
Increased prosperity has gone hand in hand with mass poverty. Already
obscene inequalities between rich and poor are widening. World trade
could be a powerful motor to reduce poverty, and support economic
growth, but that potential is being lost. The problem is not that
international trade is inherently opposed to the needs and interests of
the poor, but that the rules that govern it are rigged in favor of the
rich.
If Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and Latin America were each to
increase their share of world exports by one per cent, the resulting
gains in income could lift 128 million people out of poverty. In Africa
alone, this would generate $70bn – approximately five times what the
continent receives in aid.
In their rhetoric,
governments of rich countries constantly stress their commitment to
poverty reduction. Yet in practice rigged rules and double standards
lock poor people out of the benefits of trade, closing the door to an
escape route from poverty.
Reform of world trade is only one of the requirements for ending the
deep social injustices that pervade globalization. Action is also needed
to reduce inequalities in health, education and the distribution of
income and opportunity, including those inequalities that exist between
women and men. However, world trade rules are a key part of the poverty
problem; fundamental reforms are needed to make them part of the
solution. Oxfam’s campaign, Make Trade Fair, aims to change world trade
rules so that trade can make a real difference in the fight against
global poverty.
This report gives comprehensive research findings and analysis,
presenting a powerful case for changes in trade laws, and a reform
agenda to make these changes happen.
Kevin Watkins
is Senior Policy
Advisor in Oxfam. Previous books include The Oxfam Poverty Report
(1995, and Economic Growth with Equity (1998).
Contents
Executive Summary;
Foreword; Acknowledgements; Acronyms; Introduction;
1 Trade and globalisation in the twenty-first century;
2 Trade as a force for poverty reduction;
3 Left behind: poor countries and poor people in the international
trading system;
4 Market access and agricultural trade: the double standards of rich
countries
5 Trade liberalisation and the poor;
6 Primary commodities -- trading into decline;
7 Transnational companies: investment, employment, and marketing;
8 International trade rules as an obstacle to development;
9 Making trade work for the poor;
Notes; References; List of background research papers.
"The British
humanitarian group Oxfam assails rich nations for their trade practices
in 'Rigged Rules and Double Standards: Trade, Globalisation, and the
Fight Against Poverty,'"--Foreign Policy
You can download the report at
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/trade/trade_report.htm
Published by Oxfam
Publishing
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