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Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Matthew C. Klein (Author), Michael Pettis (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator),
4.5 out of 5 stars 509 ratings

鶹

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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 30 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.

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  1. Listening Length
    8 hours and 32 minutes
  2. Author
    Matthew C. Klein, see all
  3. Narrator
    Bob Souer
  4. Audible release date
    May 19 2020
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Tantor Audio
  7. ASIN
    B087D6L47L
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
Next slide of product details

Product details

Listening Length 8 hours and 32 minutes
Author Matthew C. Klein, Michael Pettis
Narrator Bob Souer
Audible.ca Release Date May 19 2020
Publisher Tantor Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B087D6L47L
鶹 Rank

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Top reviews from Canada

  • Ali
    5.0 out of 5 stars Learn about history and economy and markets
    Reviewed in Canada on September 13, 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    When you read history books about ww2, it is framed as a fight between good and evil. Learn the true history through books like this.
    Check out his podcast appearances for a synopsis
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  • Hu jiuyan
    5.0 out of 5 stars really worth reading
    Reviewed in Canada on June 13, 2023
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    It is great experience of shopping on 鶹，books are amazing here，great quality and reasonable price.
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    Hu jiuyan
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    really worth reading

    Reviewed in Canada on June 13, 2023
    It is great experience of shopping on 鶹，books are amazing here，great quality and reasonable price.
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  • G Well
    4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read extremely timely
    Reviewed in Canada on November 20, 2020
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    My order arrived on time and as requested. Happy Camper/ Reader
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  • Guy Bradford
    1.0 out of 5 stars Not an Easy Read
    Reviewed in Canada on July 5, 2021
    Format: Hardcover
    I just found that this book is not really an easy read and I think it wouldn't be for someone who does not have a background in this area. I'm well educated, but I don't have a background in economics or trade.

    In the first chapter, I really didn't understand in the end how corporate tax avoidance distorts the trade data or the implications of creative taxation. If I'm not getting a meaningful understanding of the issues, I just don't think it's worth continuing. I've read books that are not dissimilar in general theme from this one by Jeremy Rifkin and Jeff Rubin that do a lot better job of synthesizing things for a reader without the background in trade.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Deepali Sharma
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great
    Reviewed in Singapore on April 14, 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Great read
    Report
  • E. Happel
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very good / sehr gut
    Reviewed in Germany on March 27, 2021
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    This is an important contribution to the debate about unequality and global imbalances. There are counter-arguments, as there were against Hobson/Imperialism, but nevertheless: informative and worthwhile.

    Das Buch ist lesenswert, weil es gut argumentiert, dass Handelskriege die Nationen gegeneinander aufbringen, während in Wahrheit überall die Reichen gegen die Durchschnittsverdiener Wirtschaftskrieg führen.
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  • Owen Osula
    5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book on trade policy and how it inexorably influences global income distrbution
    Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2024
    Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
    Mr. Klein and Mr. Pettis wrote an excellent book on trade policy's inexorable influence on global income distribution Essentially, countries that have open systems must either run a currency account deficit or a current account surplus. The currenct account and capital accounts is exclusively a feature of trade, so countries can save and spend in varying degrees while not affecting the current or capital accounts because it is either a closed system or it concerns solely domestic affairs.

    Both writers did an excellent job giving detailed policy histories of China, Germany and the United States. When one reads these chapters, it becomes very clear why each countries' trade imbalances exists. They did a good job dispelling the prevasive tropes on Chinese compulsive saving culture, German industriousness and self-discipline or US reckless spending as reasons for why the three countries run trade surpluses and deficits. Roughly speaking, the main argument of how trade wars being class wars seems to be that trade surplus countries depress wages, depreciate currency, and investment spending in order to grow their industrial base and increase savings that come from the rich class. This hurts the lower and middle class because their purchasing power is depressed while taxes are extracted from them to grow the industrial base, which consequentially grows the wealth of the industrialists. While trade deficit countries grow wages, appreciate currency and increase investment spending in order to decrease its industrial base and decrease savings. This helps the lower and middle class because their purchasing power increases and taxes tend to regress for them while taxes for higher income earners increase, but it hurts the industrialists because exports become more expensive while imports grow fasters than exports. With all of that, one comes out of reading those chapters much more educated.

    However, one critique is that I think the trade wars features comes later in the book rather than earlier, as it did take a while for me to see their arguments for how trade imbalances start class wars. Although it is obvious to readers with background knowledge on macroeconomics, it would be helpful for both authors to give more detail on who exactly gets affected by trade imbalances, as more attention was given to policy history of each country and that information wasn't as clear. I believe the authors did argue successfully that trade wars do cause class wars, but I humbly believe that they should have focused more attention on the class wars part to make their arguments more perceptible.

    With their conclusion, their policy recommendations were very reasonable, given the constraints each country has with the global economy. I think both authors did a fine job researching and writing on a very dense and complicated subject, and they made the content very accessible to the average layman. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about trade policy and how it influences and affects income distributions across the rest of the world.
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  • Santiaguillo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Important book
    Reviewed in France on June 25, 2020
    Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
    This is a well written solid book about international economics. The main contribution is the link made between the internal redistribution and the international imbalances. You do not need to have a PhD in economics to read it. It is an original contribution building on previous work from Pettis. Should be enjoyable even in summertime.
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  • Tengal2012
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book
    Reviewed in Italy on April 22, 2021
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    I don't agree with everything that's inside this book but roughly speaking it's a good assessment and synthesis of the macro history of the world even though it has a slightly left of center academic bias.

    It is also a very good analysis of the chinese and south east asian model which so many tout but don't fully understand.
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