by Jason Hickel
Césaire, Aimé, 19, 63
Chad, 182–83
Chang, Ha-Joon, 180–81
charity, conundrum of, 241–43
Chávez, Hugo, 207
Chicago, University of, 120, 122, 127
Center for Latin American Economic Studies at, 123
Chicago Boys, 126–27, 308n
Chicago School, 121–22
child mortality, 48, 49, 50, 292n
declining rate of, 14, 33–34, 36, 287n
Chile, 122–27, 169, 307n
China, imperial, 19, 64–65, 88
Britain and, 86–87, 175, 205
European trade with, 69, 70
China, modern, 154, 175, 246, 222, 230, 279
economic gains in, 52, 219
hunger eradication in, 255
poverty reduction in, 15, 38, 42, 43
Cipro, 189–90
City of London, tax haven network of, 215–16
class conflict, 89, 158, 162
Climate Action Network, 228
climate change, 29, 56, 134, 224–36, 229, 253, 267
capitalism and, 235–36
costs of, as borne primarily by global South, 228, 230–32, 257
deforestation and, 225, 270
development and, 235–36
disease and, 231
feedback loops in, 235
food prices and, 219, 220
GDP growth and, 266, 267, 269–71
greenhouse gas emissions and, see greenhouse gas emissions
healing ethic and, 283
hunger and, 231
land grabs and, 256
Paris Agreement and, see Paris Agreement
rainfall patterns and, 230–31
see also global warming
Climate Fairshares project, 257
Climate Vulnerability Monitor, 228, 230
Cold War, 107, 264
rhetoric of, 109, 111, 133
Colombia, 95, 96
colonialism:
capital accumulation and, 97–98
capitalism in remaking of, 79–85
captive markets in, 72, 86, 98
collapse of, 104
death of indigenous peoples in, 19
economic elites and, 99
European outsourcing of land-intensive production in, 71–74
extraction of wealth in, 73
free-market capitalism and, 97–98
global economic system and, 96, 105
global inequality as legacy of, 10, 19, 20, 30, 97
Industrial Revolution and, 18–19
industry and, 85–86
labour supply and, 97
land enclosure and, 81–85, 93
one-way tariffs in, 86
as origin of foreign debt, 169
racism and, 94
see also South, global
Columbus, Christopher, 66–67, 91
commodity futures, 219–20
commons, reclaiming of, 253–57
communism, developmentalism demonised as, 109, 133
Compaoré, Blaise, 170
comparative advantage, 97, 177, 179, 182, 186, 252
competitiveness, 178
compound interest, 167–68, 246, 276
Congo, 115, 169
see also Belgian Congo; Zaire
consumer market, creation of, 78
consumption, 278, 279, 280, 283
North-South divide in, 261–62, 273
corporations:
cost of goods and labour for, 28
maximising shareholder returns as legal imperative for, 275–76
postcolonial nations’ policies as threat to, 21
structural adjustments as profitable for, 161
corporations, multinational, 185
access to cheap labour by, 160–61
tax evasion by, 213–14, 254–55
corruption, 210
bribery and theft by government officials in, 210
as explanation for global inequality, 208–9, 218
illicit outflows and, 210–12, 214, 217, 254, 258
land grabs and, 223
perception vs. reality of, 218
Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), 209, 217–18
Cortés, Hernán, 67–68
Costa Rica, 272–74
Côte d’Ivoire, 118, 151, 218, 224
cotton:
illegal US subsidies for, 182–83
slavery and, 18, 71–72
crises of over-accumulation, 158–60, 162
Cuba, 18, 95–96, 113
Davis, Mike, 84–85
debt resistance, 244–47, 258, 276
decolonisation, 104, 302–3n
deforestation, 224, 225, 262, 265, 270
de Gaulle, Charles, 117
democracy, 201, 247, 285
FTAs and, 194, 196, 199
dengue fever, 231
development:
climate change and, 235–36
as foreign policy weapon, 19–20
myth of, 10, 11, 13, 14, 29–32, 154
North-South gap in, 9–10
as stymied by global economic system, 13, 29
Truman and, 8, 10, 12, 17–18, 19
development aid, 164
alleviation of structural causes of inequality vs., 257–58
annual disbursement of, 23, 24–25, 26, 27
capital outflow vs., 24–30, 210
developmentalism, 20–21, 105–18, 121, 122–23, 141, 179
demonised as communism, 109, 133
ecological capacity as barrier to, 261
fairness as goal of, 131–32
income inequality and, 106–7
land reform in, 124
legacy of, 132, 260–61
life expectancy and, 107
nationalisation in, 124, 194
NIEO and, 138–39
as prioritising rapid growth over human and ecologial needs, 133–34
redistribution of political power and, 132
shrinking North-South income gap and, 107
structural adjustment as undoing progress under, 145–47, 148–49, 153–54, 162
Western backlash against, 21–22, 108, 109–34, 146
development industry, 3, 10–11
business-as-usual mindset in, 55–56
desire for new approach in, 243–44
and failure to eradicate poverty, 13, 14–15, 17
misleading statistics of, 15–16
short-term historical view of, 63–64
disease, climate chnage and, 231
Djankov, Simeon, 204
Dodge v. Ford Motor Company, 275
Doing Business rankings, 201–4, 317n
domestic material consumption, 267–68
Dominican Republic, 95, 96, 113, 170
Dulles, Allen, 109, 110, 111
Dulles, John Foster, 109, 110, 111
Easterly, William, 156
East India Company, 82, 88
ecological capacity, 261–62, 265, 267–69
economic system, global:
climate change and, 236
colonialism in, 96, 105
core vs. peripheral states in, 65–66, 72, 73, 97
as creation of Western powers, 3, 19, 108, 138
debt as driver of, 276–77
development stymied by, 13, 22–23, 29
downsizing and, 272
fundamental unfairness of, 19–20, 54, 55–57, 257
GDP growth as main objective of, 264, 267, 271
good-news narrative and, 35, 59
Great Depression and, 100, 101–2
poverty and, 12–13, 47, 52
precolonial, 86–89
transfer of wealth from South to North in, 96–97
Economist, 34, 126, 231
Ecuador, 94, 113, 197–98, 285
education, 33, 36
Egypt, 104, 106, 140, 218–19
Eisenhower, Dwight, 20, 24, 109–10, 112, 115
Ekta Parishad, 259
Elf Aquitaine (Total) oil compan
y, 117, 118
elites, economic, 119, 122, 127
see also economic inequality
El Mercurio, 124
El Niño, 83, 84
El Salvador, 113, 197
End of Poverty, The (Sachs), 23
environmental degradation, 158, 162
overconsumption and, 261–62
Ethiopia, 226, 243
Europe, 65, 69
basic minimum income in, 280
colonial legacy of, 10, 18–19
economic inequality in, 99–100, 280
income growth in, 94
life expectancy in, 64
outsourcing of land-intensive production from, 69, 71, 73–74
overconsumption in, 262
in plunder of global South’s resources, 66–73
postcolonial nations’ policies as threat to, 21
slave economy and, 71–72
standard of living in, 88
European Common Agricultural Policy, 182
European Union, 92
extinctions, increased rate of, 262
fair trade, 249–52, 253
Fanon, Frantz, 30
farmers, farming:
regenerative, 282–83, 285
as undercut by subsidised foods, 12, 22, 251–52
see also agriculture
financial crisis of 2008, 44, 198, 208
financial sector, deregulation of, 130
Financial Times, 201
fish stocks, depletion of, 262, 265
Foccart, Jacques, 117
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 43–46, 55
misleading statistics of, 45, 45–46, 293–94n
food prices, 34, 44, 58
1877–78 spike in, 84
NAFTA deregulation of, 193
2007 crisis in, 44, 218–19
2010–11 spike in, 220
food security, 37, 84, 223, 257, 261, 283
Ford Foundation, 123
Ford Motor Company, 275
foreign debt, 25
cancellation of, 25, 244–46, 258, 276
colonialism as origin of, 169
debt relief programmes and, 171–72
default on, 168–69, 247
as driver of global economic system, 276–77
GDP growth as demanded by, 276
given priority over social services, 12, 144–45, 148, 153, 166–67, 244
global inequality and, 166–67
interest on, 167–68, 245–46, 276
as leverage for pro-Western economic policies, 21–22
as moral issue, 171
payments on, 166–67, 167
as percentage of global South gross income, 168
poverty and, 167, 172
structural adjustment and, 245, 246
2008 financial crisis and, 208
foreign investment, 24–25, 28
fossil fuels, 198, 228, 259, 270, 283
government subsidies for, 233, 257
France:
African colonies of, 90–91
African interventions of, 117–18
decolonisation and, 104
postcolonial nations’ policies as threat to, 21
Treaty of Versailles and, 100
Francis I, Pope, 51–52
Frank, Andre Gunder, 308n
free-market capitalism, 35–36, 40, 43, 120, 177, 249
colonialism and, 97–98
comparative advantage in, 97
coups and violence in imposition of, 79, 205
Friedman’s theory of, 120–22
global inequality and, 52
government regulation of, 102
Indian farmers and, 83–85
individual liberty and, 121, 122
supply and demand in, 97
tax havens in, 217
free trade, theory of, 177–206, 207, 236
abundance of capital and cheap labour in, 178–79
comparative advantage in, 97, 177, 179, 182, 186, 252
government regulation as anathema in, 179, 250
Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson model in, 177–79
market “distortions” in, 178, 179, 185
as misleading term, 174, 175, 199, 205
free-trade agreements (FTAs), 192–99, 208, 211, 249–50
see also specific agreements
free-trade zones, 205–6
Friedman, Milton, 120–22, 126–27, 129, 130, 308n
Friends of the Earth, 232, 257
G7, 138–39, 157–58
G8, 223
G77, 107, 138, 187
Gabon, 117–18
Galeano, Eduardo, 98
Gandhi, Mohandas K., 19, 104
Garvey, Marcus, 104
Gates Foundation, 29
gays, discrimination against, 103
GDP:
alternatives to, 274–75
calculation of, 263–64
well-being and, 272–73
GDP growth, 284
as accepted measure of economic progress, 263, 264, 266, 274, 274
climate change and, 266, 267, 269–71
ecological capacity and, 265
as exponential, 265, 271, 273
as main objective of global economic system, 264, 267, 271
material throughput and, 267–68
as needed to service debt, 276
poverty and, 55–56, 266
of US vs. global South, 53–54, 54
Geneen, Harold, 112
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), 175–76
Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), 274, 274–75, 279
George, Henry, 281
Germany, 91, 100, 120
Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding (Kenny), 34
Ghana, 104, 106, 114–15, 215
GI Bill, 103, 158
Gini, Corrado, 51
Gini index, 51, 52, 53
Glass-Steagall Act, abolition of, 130
Global Financial Integrity (GFI), 24–25, 26, 210, 212, 213, 289n, 319n
Global Footprint Network, 261
global warming:
1.5ºC warming threshold in, 232–33, 256, 269
projected 4ºC increase in, 234–35, 256, 269
regenerative farming and, 282–83
2ºC warming threshold in, 256, 272
see also climate change
gold, Spanish conquest and, 67–69
Good Neighbor policy, 104, 112
good-news narrative, 35, 59
Goulart, João, 112–13
government:
market regulation by, 102, 179
spending by, 21, 102, 128
Graeber, David, 171
GRAIN, 224, 259
Grapes of Wrath, The (Steinbeck), 223
Great Arrow of Progress, 9, 10
Great Depression, 100, 101–2, 120, 122, 129, 130, 175–76, 263
Great Famine, 80
Great Recession, 34
Greece, 170
greenhouse gas emissions, 224, 225, 228, 230, 256–57, 270, 272, 279, 280
Green Revolution, 231
Greenspan, Alan, 130
Gross National Happiness, 284
growth, conundrum of, 263–67
Guardian, 118
Guatemala, 21, 110–12, 168, 243
Haiti, 24, 95, 113
Haiyan, Typhoon, 226–27, 230
Hamilton, Alexander, 175
happiness, 273, 275, 284
Happy Planet Index, 275
Harberger, Arnold, 127, 308n
Hardy, Benjamin, 7–8
Hayek, Friedrich, 120, 129
Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson model, 177–79
Helms, Richard, 124
Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs), 171
HIV/AIDS, 1, 34, 36, 185–86, 188–90, 251
cost of medication for, 12, 189
Honduras, 18, 95, 113, 207, 208
hot money, 210–11, 214
Houphouët-Boigny, Félix, 118
“How Ambi Became Paisley” (Pa
tel), 99
human rights, 104, 138
hunger, 15, 37
climate change and, 231
definition of, 44–45, 293–94n
global food production and, 15, 46
Millennium Development Goals and, 33, 34, 43–47
misleading statistics on, 43, 44–45, 45, 48
New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition and, 223, 255
2007 food-price crisis and, 44, 218–20, 223
Idle No More, 259
IMF (International Monetary Fund), 40, 43, 103, 114, 176, 184, 219, 258
anti-regulatory policies of, 211
Budhoo’s critique of, 156–57
crippling of global South’s economic independence as goal of, 157–58
debt-relief programme of, 171
democratisation of, 247–49
GDP growth promoted by, 264
as global debt enforcer, 144
immunity status of, 154–55, 172, 196, 248
perpetuation of capitalism as unspoken goal of, 158–60
reducing economic instability as supposed goal of, 157
structural adjustment and, see structural adjustment programmes
Western powers’ control of, 155–56
“IMF riots,” 152–53
immunity laws, 154–55, 172, 195–98, 248
imperialism, see colonialism
Incas, 64, 68
income:
basic minimum, 280–81
per capita, 40–41, 313n
income inequality:
between countries, see inequality, global
developmentalism in, 106–7
of individuals, 2, 16, 51, 119
postcolonial rise in, 16
of U.S. vs. global South, 16
India, 48, 69, 106, 222, 246
British rule in, 19, 82–86, 88, 104
climate change and, 230, 231, 285
structural adjustment in, 145, 153
indigenous Americans, 259
Columbus and, 66–67
enslavement of, 67, 68–69, 70
expropriation of land from, 81–82
genocide of, 69–70
Indonesia, 113–14, 230
industrialisation, protectionism and, 175–76, 181, 184–85
Industrial Revolution, 65, 89, 106, 228
accumulation of wealth and, 73–74
colonialism and, 18–19, 85–86
land enclosure and, 76–78
outsourcing of land-intensive production in, 69, 71–74
slave economy and, 71–72
inequality, global, 131
alleviation of structural causes vs. development aid for, 257–58
corruption and, see corruption; tax evasion, tax havens
development and, see development
foreign debt and, see foreign debt
GDP per capita growth in, 53–54, 54
Gini index and, 51, 52, 53
as legacy of colonialism, 10, 19, 20
misleading statistics on, 51, 52
North-South divide in, 2, 8, 9–10, 17, 51–54, 164, 244
as outgrowth of economic system, 19–20
postwar narrowing of North-South gap in, 100–101