Trade Wars Are Class Wars, Matthew C. Klein
Trade Wars Are Class Wars, Matthew C. Klein
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Trade Wars Are Class Wars
How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace

Author: Matthew C. Klein, Michael Pettis

Narrator: Bob Souer

Unabridged: 8 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/19/2020


Synopsis

A provocative look at how today's trade conflicts are caused by governments promoting the interests of elites at the expense of workers.

Trade disputes are usually understood as conflicts between countries with competing national interests, but as Matthew C. Klein and Michael Pettis show in this book, they are often the unexpected result of domestic political choices to serve the interests of the rich at the expense of workers and ordinary retirees.

Klein and Pettis trace the origins of today's trade wars to decisions made by politicians and business leaders in China, Europe, and the United States over the past thirty years. Across the world, the rich have prospered while workers can no longer afford to buy what they produce, have lost their jobs, or have been forced into higher levels of debt. In this thought-provoking challenge to mainstream views, the authors provide a cohesive narrative that shows how the class wars of rising inequality are a threat to the global economy and international peace—and what we can do about it.

About Matthew C. Klein

Matthew C. Klein is the economics commentator at Barron's. He lives in San Francisco, California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Justina on May 20, 2020

This book deserves a mass-market push that it seems to not be getting. Instead, it's probably being read by people like me who are already familiar with the arguments from Pettis's writing but want it in book length. In terms of difficulty for the laymen, it lies somewhere between a book digestible......more

Goodreads review by Wick on April 10, 2025

Wealth inequality abroad causes wealth inequality domestically. I do not have a strong business or economic background and I struggled through the first half of this book with some dense economic history that was over my head. However, by the end of the book, I started to see the light at the end of......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on May 31, 2020

This is basically an exercise in balance of payments accounting, with some financial history thrown in. The main thesis is that the functional distribution of income determines savings rates, which determine the current account balance, and that political economic forces which have redistributed inc......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on July 16, 2020

A refreshing book with some unusual arguments: 1. Trade wars happen because manufacturing jobs have moved from advanced to developing countries such as China and Mexico. Trade unions become powerless. Blue collared workers lose their jobs. Poor people overdose themselves with opioids or commit suicid......more

Goodreads review by Marks54 on July 24, 2020

If you read enough debates about the poor pay practices of various big box retailers, a simple question eventually comes up. “If you don’t pay your workers more than a minimal wage, how are they going to be able to afford the stuff you sell?” That is a good place to start in considering “Trade Wars......more