I don’t like commenting on the EA Forum given the karma-system’s distortionary effect, so your chances of getting a response are much higher if you use substack/reddit/DM/email/any-other-medium. However, since you addressed me directly I’m not going to be so impolite as to ignore you, so I’ll give it a go.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure I have one that meets all these requirements. I linked Jason Hickel’s “The Divide”, which is probably the closest, but it’s been half a decade since I read it. Given that 1: I have trouble remembering what I even had for breakfast, and 2: I don’t even remember if I finished it, I don’t think I’m in a good position to recommend it. I heard that Ha-Joon Chang’s “Bad Samaritans” tried something like what you mentioned, but I haven’t read it. Writing for an antipodal/hostile audience is quite an unrewarding job (trust me), so I don’t know how many writers you’ll find. I’ll keep my eye out for one though.
I also tend to search literature by topic, and not by author-affiliation, so I most often don’t know the political position of the people I’m reading, beyond the vague vibes the text itself is giving off. I know the World Bank did some dodgy shit, which socialists have raked them over the coals over, but I’m not sure if capitalist scholars (today) defend those actions, so I’m not sure if it’s a uniquely socialist critique.
I think, given your profile, you’ll probably find the arguments centered on western (farming) subsidies the most convincing (some sources linked in the beginning, though sources more to your liking are likely available online), and you’ll probably find the arguments centered on “unequal exchange” the least convincing. (or, well, Open Borders and Climate Injustices are the ones you’ll likely find the most convincing, but given that many capitalist scholars also champion those, I think you already believe in those)
But also, I’m not an expert on global trade. The argument for reparations stems more from what happened in history than what’s happening today. Some highly upvoted comments by EAs were defending colonialism (which I know a bit about, so I’ll probably do a post on that at some point), but for global trade I’ve only read a small handful of books and articles on the topic, so I’d have to look into it more.
Hi David,
I don’t like commenting on the EA Forum given the karma-system’s distortionary effect, so your chances of getting a response are much higher if you use substack/reddit/DM/email/any-other-medium. However, since you addressed me directly I’m not going to be so impolite as to ignore you, so I’ll give it a go.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure I have one that meets all these requirements. I linked Jason Hickel’s “The Divide”, which is probably the closest, but it’s been half a decade since I read it. Given that 1: I have trouble remembering what I even had for breakfast, and 2: I don’t even remember if I finished it, I don’t think I’m in a good position to recommend it.
I heard that Ha-Joon Chang’s “Bad Samaritans” tried something like what you mentioned, but I haven’t read it. Writing for an antipodal/hostile audience is quite an unrewarding job (trust me), so I don’t know how many writers you’ll find. I’ll keep my eye out for one though.
I also tend to search literature by topic, and not by author-affiliation, so I most often don’t know the political position of the people I’m reading, beyond the vague vibes the text itself is giving off.
I know the World Bank did some dodgy shit, which socialists have raked them over the coals over, but I’m not sure if capitalist scholars (today) defend those actions, so I’m not sure if it’s a uniquely socialist critique.
I think, given your profile, you’ll probably find the arguments centered on western (farming) subsidies the most convincing (some sources linked in the beginning, though sources more to your liking are likely available online), and you’ll probably find the arguments centered on “unequal exchange” the least convincing. (or, well, Open Borders and Climate Injustices are the ones you’ll likely find the most convincing, but given that many capitalist scholars also champion those, I think you already believe in those)
But also, I’m not an expert on global trade. The argument for reparations stems more from what happened in history than what’s happening today. Some highly upvoted comments by EAs were defending colonialism (which I know a bit about, so I’ll probably do a post on that at some point), but for global trade I’ve only read a small handful of books and articles on the topic, so I’d have to look into it more.
Thanks for responding