Study Reveals How The Global North Drives Inequality In International Trade

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A multi-decade study led by researchers from the University of Sydney has unveiled concerning trends in international trade that are exacerbating inequalities between the Global North rich countries and Global South developing countries.

The research identifies both positive and negative trends driven by international trade but does highlight the role that high-income countries play in driving polarizing trends, undermining progress towards reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

[...] As the world approaches the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the research underlines the urgent need for countries to recognize their influence beyond national borders.

The research lead for the study is Associate Professor Arunima Malik from the Center for Integrated Sustainability Analysis in the Faculty of Science, and Discipline of Accounting, Governance and Regulation in the Business School.

She said, "Sustainable Development Goals are nationally focused and therefore tend not to take international effects into account. This misses the fact that in today's globalized world, consumption in one region can significantly affect the well-being of people in countries far away."

The study takes a global approach to supply chains and is the first to assess the trends over an extended period of the global environmental and social impacts from international trade.

The findings reveal that high-income countries often outsource environmentally and socially detrimental production to low-income nations, resulting in the shifting of burdens that disproportionately affects developing regions.

Co-author Professor Manfred Lenzen, Professor of Sustainability Research at the Center for Integrated Sustainability Analysis, said, "Our findings indicate the Global North's outsourcing practices are contributing to a widening divide between countries that benefit from trade and those that bear the brunt of its adverse effects."

This dynamic not only perpetuates economic disparities, but also exacerbates social and environmental challenges in the Global South.

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