STWR - Share The World's Resources

This section of the report 'Financing the Global Sharing Economy' argues that a dramatic change of paradigm is needed if rich nations and global institutions are to stop forcing developing countries to liberalise their economies through unfair trade rules - whether as a condition of free trade agreements or in return for financial assistance.

This section of the report 'Financing the Global Sharing Economy' makes the case for redistributing the IMF's assets through its Special Drawing Rights facility and gold sales. These modest proposals could help restore the IMF's flagging legitimacy and prepare the way for more substantial reforms to the global economic architecture.

Behind the currency wars and the worsening global economic crisis lies a largely unquestioned free trade model that, without radical reform, is a major obstacle to a sustainable recovery. International trade should be based on cooperation, not competition, argues Myriam vander Stichele.

The West African cotton industry is blocked by a wall of free cash dished out by the United States and European Union to their farmers, robbing 10 million West African farmers of $250m as price-fixing benefits rich countries over poor nations. A report by the Fairtrade Foundation.

There is considerable evidence that the free trade agreements pursued by the European Union with Colombia and Peru may exacerbate human rights abuses and inequality in the region, says a report by the Transnational Institute and the Center for Research and Documentation Chile-Latin America.

Without genuine reform of both governance and policy recommendations, the International Monetary Fund’s expanded crisis role may actually keep low-income countries from recovering, push them into greater debt, and hinder long-term development, says a report by Jubilee USA.

Since 1990, financing to the private sector by multilateral development banks has increased ten-fold. Without radical reform of the current lending approach, such an expansion could do more harm than good, says a new report by Eurodad et al.