The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, Pietra Rivoli (ISBN 978-0471648499, Wiley)

I picked up this tip in a newspaper article long ago (the book is from 2005). The book is written by a professional economist and it makes the case for the global economy by examining the history of t-shirt production. It is a fascinating read of economic and industrial history. It more or less starts in the UK with the industrial revolution which made it possible to produce clothing more cheaply and efficiently. Production slowly moved to the US and since then away from the US to low wage economies, typically in Asia. Even in Asia there has been a migration from one low wage country to the next as the initial country became more prosperous and wages increased. T-shirt production the migrated again the next sufficiently industrialised low wage country. From that perspective the book can also be read as a little history of the economic rise of poor populations. In a way this is also the main message of the author. She is not advocating a completely uncontrolled form of capitalism but a global economy where there are laws and governments that enforce rules. These governments together with prospering people and their representative law makers keep capitalism in check. This check results in increased global prosperity and overall improved standards of living. She also makes the case that subsidising manufacturing to stay in places where wages have become too high is not a solution. It actually prevents or slows down improvements of the living conditions of the workers in low wage economies and does not succeed in keeping the manufacturing from moving to other countries. It is a very ineffective way to spend tax payers money. The book is well written and argued and nuanced as well. It is an invitation to reflect and add nuance to your own thinking. I read this already some time ago and writing this post now feel I should read it again maybe in part to review the main arguments.