Trade, Growth and Population Health: An Introductory Review

Caroline Andrew. Louise Bouchard, Ronald Labonté, Vivien Runnels (Editors)

Ronald Labonté,Canada Research Chair, Globalization and Health Equity, Institute of Population Health, Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa

Chantal Blouin, Associate Director, Centre for Trade Policy and Law, Carleton University, Ottawa

Lisa Forman, Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Director, Comparative Program on Health and Society, Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto

Vol. 2(1) 2010 Transdisciplinary Studies in Population Health Series

Available online as PDF [94p.] at: http://bit.ly/bXbnYl

“……..Human societies have long histories of trade with each other. One might describe barter and exchange as inherently human social qualities. When such barter extends beyond the village marketplace, however, issues of power and elite interests inevitably surface. Trade between societies has been marked by conflict as much as by equanimity: witness the forced opening of the closed economies of China by the British in the 19th century, Japan by the USA in the early 20th century, and the allegations of more contemporary coercion exercised by powerful countries over weaker ones in today’s free trade negotiations, a point addressed later in this paper./.../