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Unfair Trade

Unfair Trade

  • The shocking truth behind ‘ethical’ business

Many of our favourite brands now openly espouse 'ethical' credentials, so how is it that they can import billions of pounds' worth of goods from the developing world every year while leaving the people who produce them barely scraping a living? Are they being cynically opportunistic? Or is it that global commerce will always be incompatible with the eradication of poverty? And, if so, are charity and fair trade initiatives the only way forward?

In Unfair Trade Conor Woodman travels the world - from Nicaragua to the Congo and from Laos to Afghanistan - to establish the truth. In the course of his journeys he uncovers some truly shocking stories about the way big business operates, but he also sees a way forward that could reconcile the apparently irreconcilable.

Reviews

  • Conor Woodman's Unfair Trade is proof that economics can be both vivid and accessible. By rootling through the developing world's sweatshops, plantations and mines he explores whether Big Business can also be Ethical Business. Read this book and you will never look at the goods in a high street shop window in quite the same way

    Tim Butcher

  • Conor Woodman takes the dismal out of the dismal science. He's written an alternative travel guide to the global economy

    Liam Halligan, Sunday Telegraph

  • Many books denounce rapacious Western corporations, but few combine - as Woodman's does - first-hand global reportage with practical advice on change. From Congo to China, and from chocolate to cotton, he seeks commerce with a conscience

    i, Independent

  • Conor Woodman's bold new book reminds us of the basic questions that every right-thinking consumer ought to ask ... as a work of journalistic reportage, this book scores very highly

    Geographical

  • Woodman offers (an) alternative and compelling world view

    Business Destinations

About the Author

Conor Woodman

Conor Woodman is an economist, author and presenter. His first book Around the World in 80 Trades: The Adventure Capitalist (2009) and the accompanying four-part television series for Channel 4 tell the story of how he left his job, sold his London flat and embarked on a round-the-world trading adventure. Travelling through four continents in five months, he turned his hand to making a profit out of everything from camels in Sudan to inflatable surfboards in Mexico, to discover how real people make real money in real markets. His 2012 book Unfair Trade was longlisted for the prestigious Orwell Prize for political writing. Visit his website at www.conorwoodman.com

Conor Woodman

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