Unequal exchange of labour in the world economy

In this episode, we explore a groundbreaking research paper by Jason Hickel, Morena Hanbury Lemos & Felix Barbour that empirically demonstrates the substantial net appropriation of labour from the global South to the global North. The study quantifies this unequal exchange, revealing that the North benefited from 826 billion hours of embodied labour in 2021 alone. Hickel, Hanbury Lemos & Barbour highlight the role of significant wage disparities and their persistence across various sectors and skill levels. The paper concludes that this pattern exacerbates global poverty, underdevelopment, and inequality. Tune in to learn about the implications of this unequal exchange and the necessity for a shift in global power dynamics and economic governance to address these challenges.