Today marks World Book Day, an annual celebration of authors and the contribution their work makes to our lives.
The day presents an opportunity to reflect on the books we’ve read over the past year and how they’ve shaped our understanding of the wider world.
In that spirit, the Daily Update spoke to students, members and trade experts, to find out which books they would recommend to those wanting to learn more about trade.
A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World, William Bernstein
Written in 2009, Bernstein’s book provides a sweeping, grand narrative that offers a history of global trade stretching back thousands of years.
Dr Maria Garcia, an assistant professor of politics, languages and international studies at the University of Bath, says it offers “snapshots of the realities, motives and consequences of trade” and illustrates how “today's world has its roots in millennia of trade relations across the globe”.
“It takes us from Mesopotamia to the Silk Road, to European imperial trade routes and beyond.”
While highlighting the many benefits of trade, Garcia adds that the book doesn’t shy away from the “dire and immoral consequences of trade across the ages” and also offers foods for thought when examining our own age.
“At its core, the book rehearses the modern conundrum at the heart of free trade versus protectionism debates today, how trade simultaneously improves overall welfare while increasing corrosive disparities of wealth – making societies wealthier, yet more vulnerable.
“As we witness dramatic changes to the global trading system, apparently targeting those vulnerabilities, it is worth considering how we got here and what our shared trade history might offer us today.”
Attlee: A Life in Politics, Nick Thomas-Symonds
From grand narratives to individual stories, the Chartered Institute’s public affairs lead Grace Thompson recommends EU minister Nick Thomas-Symonds’ biography of post-war prime minister Clement Attlee.
She says that “the book weaves in Attlee’s early life, his role in opposition and the war cabinet, his style as prime minister and the challenges he faced, including ill-judged decisions on the timing of the UK’s withdrawal from India and the partition of India into India and Pakistan”.
In addition to war and empire, Atlee also shaped UK trade, “as he sought to rebuild economic and trade stability following WWII”.
“There were difficult decisions to be made around the need to boost domestic production (particularly of food), while also bringing in sufficient imports when financially cash-strapped.
“Some stringent import controls were needed to support the UK’s ability to import vital goods whilst exporting enough to pay for them.”
Beyond the immediate post-war period, Atlee was also instrumental in later 20th-century trade, “[he] also appointed a younger Harold Wilson, future prime minister, as the President of the Board of Trade, where Wilson also supported in efforts to reinforce the UK’s industrial prowess and promote exports”.
Thompson concludes that “all in all, as I’ve been reading through this book, I am discovering many parallels to today’s geopolitical dynamics”.
“I would recommend it to anyone seeking to learn the lessons of history and perhaps even to be inspired by a humble, practical and consensus-seeking prime minister.”
Why Politicians Lie About Trade: ...and What You Need to Know About It, Dmitry Grozoubinski
Sticking with politics, Dmitry Grozoubinski’s book is a great pick for anyone who wants to understand how trade is politicised by today’s leaders and the key questions they should ask themselves when evaluating the validity of politician’s arguments.
“Everything you want or need to know about trade in a couple of hundred pages?” says UK in a Changing Europe’s Jill Rutter. “Look no further than former Aussie trade negotiator Dmitry Grozoubinski’s easy-to-read and very amusing book”.
She praises the book as “rapid run-through of trade theory and practice”, which “acts as a great mythbuster and alerts you to all the misleading ways our leaders can talk about the ‘benefits’ of their trade policies”.
The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman
Not a recent read, but a significant text for understanding the world economically in the 21st century, Leeds Beckett University student Zulekha Selant chose Friedman’s set of case studies exploring the different historical forces that have combined to “flatten” the world economy – levelling the playing field between developed and developing nations.
“It's a book that dives deep into the effects of globalisation and how interconnected the world is, and how it's become so, especially when it comes to trade and business”, she says.
“It's really fascinating to think about how advancements in technology and communication and trade have really levelled the playing field for so many companies and countries across the world.”
Selant credits the book for sparking an interest in the wider world economy, which guided her decision to study international business.
Prisoners of Geography, Tim Marshall
There’s a reason it occupied the bestseller spot on both sides of the pond – Marshall’s exploration of the deterministic impact of a nation’s geography encouraged readers to rethink their understanding of world history and geopolitics.
AESSEAL’s head of procurement, Christian Pulman, describes it as full of “excellent research” and “fantastic insights into how geography has shaped the political and economic face different countries”.
“Even [when] considering [that] geopolitics obviously is influenced by human decisions, the land itself provides a framework in which countries operate to their strengths. [This is an] excellent book and I would recommend.”
“It’s a few years old now,” he adds, “but you can still see the impact it's having on the world today, in terms of the issues and tensions between different countries.”
The book addresses 10 different global regions, including the US, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America.
The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith
Ending with an economics classic, visiting professor at the University of Derby Trevor Williams recommends Scottish Enlightenment text ‘The Wealth of Nations’.
Beyond its oft-quoted line on the “invisible hand of the market”, Williams says that the book “was important because [Smith] also wanted free trade for moral reasons – freedom to sell one’s labour, to live and move freely, belief in markets and its liberating power for people previously tied to a lord and village or town area”.
It was “all very revolutionary at the time” he adds. However, echoing the comments of our other contributors, he notes that the book still has lessons relevant today.
“He alone was very aware of the risk of monopoly power and talked about the risk of owners getting together to ‘rig’ markets in their favour: so familiar and recognisable even today.”
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