“A political economy problematisation of the current trends of
production towards environmental degradation, while offering an
environmental critique of mainstream economic thought and capitalist
exchange and production. A case is made for a re-appraisal of ‘unequal
exchange’ analysis of international trade. First, this essay explains the evolution
of economic thought on trade, offering a brief explanation of where ‘unequal
exchange’ analysis comes from. In Part two, unequal ecological exchange is
introduced and a political analysis of how and why the South1 allows its
environmental capacity to be appropriated is discussed. Part Three discusses
the ecological impact of the current global trading system, and Part Four looks
at the phenomenon of ‘Perverse Subsidies’ and their influence on free trade
arguments. Finally Part Five examines responses to the environmental crisis, by
questioning mainstream economists’ optimism about the ecological crisis.
Further addressing the ‘ecological modernization’ paradigm and the Red-Green
approach, in order to show the salience of an unequal ecological exchange
methodology for understanding the links between the expansion of global
capitalism, environmental degradation and international inequality.”

As published in the New School Economic Review, Volume 2(1), 2007.
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