Ecological Unequal Exchange
Winners and Losers in Global Raw Material Trade and Consumption
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12433972 |
|---|---|
| Authors | C Rammelt (0000-0002-3766-2599, University of Amsterdam, corresponding author), Raimon C Ylla-Catala (University of Amsterdam) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 341-372 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of World-Systems Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1076-156X • E-ISSN: 1076-156X |
| Publisher | University Library System, University of Pittsburgh (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.5195/jwsr.2025.1298 |
| OpenAlex | W4409540095 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 32 |
The Marxist theory of unequal exchange challenges the idea that trade never results in outright losses. As a biophysical process, ecological unequal exchange reveals global disparities in resource flows. Using material flow analysis, alternative indicators, and new country clusters, this study updates earlier research and identifies a new phase of intensified disparities since 2015, with rising net outflows of resources from low-income countries (LICs) to high-income countries (HICs). From 1970 to 2024, HICs accumulated 290 gigatons (Gt) of raw material equivalents (RMEs) as net imports, while upper-middle-income, lower-middle-income, and low-income countries net-exported 164 Gt, 53.1 Gt, and 9.6 Gt, respectively. In a relative sense, LICs consume 13.3 percent less RMEs than they extract domestically, while HICs consume 25.4 percent more. This study challenges assumptions about global divisions of labor: not all HICs are net-importers of RMEs, nor are all LICs net-exporters. However, net-exporter HICs earn more than net-exporter LICs, and net-importer HICs spend less than net-importer LICs. On average, LICs export 6 tons of RMEs to earn what HICs earns from 1 ton; for net-exporter LICs, this ratio rises to 12.7 tons. The more a country exploits the environment, domestically or abroad, the more it earns
Biology · Geography · Environmental Science · Political Economy and Marxism · Ecology
Global formation
An Introduction to Environmentally-Extended Input-Output Analysis
Carbon, Land, and Water Footprint Accounts for the European Union
Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity
Global trade in the Anthropocene
Ecological unequal exchange
Commercial and biophysical deficits in South America, 1990–2013
Can Eemrio analyses establish the occurrence of ecologically unequal exchange
Unequal ecological exchange in the era of global value chains
Modelling Multi-regional Ecological Exchanges
Uneven development and core-periphery dynamics
Plunder in the Post-Colonial Era
Introduction to Ecologically Unequal Exchange in Comparative Perspective
The Structure of Global Money and World Tables of Unequal Exchange
Imperialist appropriation in the world economy
The effect of industrialization and globalization on domestic land-use
The unequal exchange of Dutch cheese and Kenyan roses
Towards an ecological theory of unequal exchange
Global patterns of ecologically unequal exchange
Extractivism, ecologically unequal exchange and environmental impact in South America
Global asymmetries in the rise of solar power
Why economics needs to be distinguished from physics, and why economists need to talk to physicists
How much a dollar cost
The accumulation-metabolism nexus
Changing social metabolism and environmental conflicts in India and South America
Linking ecological debt and ecologically unequal exchange
Unequal Ecological Exchange and Environmental Degradation
The Economy, Military, and Ecologically Unequal Exchange Relationships in Comparative Perspective
Ecological Unequal Exchange
Modes of Extraction, Unequal Exchange, and the Progressive Underdevelopment of an Extreme Periphery
The theory of unequal ecological exchange
Semi-peripheral countries and the contemporary world crisis
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |