Andrew
Charlton is the
co-author of Fair Trade For All, a look at the economy of the
twenty-first century and how the world’s developing nations can be helped
through free and fair trade.
In Fair
Trade for All, Charlton and his co-author, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph
E. Stiglitz, examine the innate unfairness of the global trading market. Its
basic premise is that trade is good for development, and the two authors
outline a carefully managed trade liberalization agenda.
Historically,
developed countries used trade policies so unfair that compared to modern standards;
they would “make their WTO ambassadors blush.” And they argue that fairness
must be central to today’s trade negotiations.
Fairness,
or Fair Trade, is an idea that seems to be taking hold among the masses. It is
defined by the World Fair Trade Organization as “a trading partnership, based
on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international
trade.”
This philosophy is slowly becoming policy, as can be seen on the Fair
Trade certification labels on a growing number of consumer products on store
shelves in many developed nations.
Advocates
of Fair Trade say that it proves that greater justice in world trading is
possible, and is a tangible contribution to the fight to end world poverty,
climate change, and economic imbalance.
In Fair
Trade For All, Stiglitz and
Andrew Charlton “provide a workable and
reasonable...way to make the current system fairer.”
Dr.
Andrew Charlton is an Oxford-educated economist who served as a senior advisor
to former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. He is currently a director at
AlphaBeta, a strategy and economics firm.
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