The working paper Unemployment (Center) and
Unequal Exchange (Center-Periphery), Gernot Köhler, is interesting in
that in the micro economy it is true to say that if you have poor neighbours
then you aren’t going to sell to them. Rather than reduce your price,
why not give the neighbours money? And money that was theirs anyway? To what
extent does the recently announced relief package for the third world, I
have this at about $100B, and over twenty years is $5B. The 1994 data on
Unequal Exchange is $1,600B. So does this mean the third word is getting a
5/1,600 or 0.3 per cent refund?
William Kirk.
COMMENT:
Willie, I agree that the refunds or
compensations that Third World countries receive from the First World in
terms of aid and relief packages are very small in comparison to the losses
they incur due to unfair trade and unfair exchange rates. This has also been
noted in some UNDP literature, albeit with some different calculations. I
think, therefore, that people like the Africa Reparations Movement are on
the right track. What puzzles me is why the governments of the Second and
Third World do not speak up more for themselves? Based on my calculations,
they could, as a group, have claimed 1 to 2 trillion dollars as compensation
for unequal exchange for the year 1995 alone. In my opinion that is a piece
of money well worth fighting for.
Gert Kohler