Overview

This book provides a firm analytical base to discussions about injustice and the unequal distribution of gains from global production in the form of global monopsony capitalism. It utilizes the concept of reverse subsidies as the purchase of gendered labour and environmental services below their costs of production in garment value chains in India and other garment producing countries, such as Bangladesh and Cambodia. Environmental services, such as freshwater for garment manufacture and land for cotton production, are degraded by overuse and untreated waste disposal. The resulting higher profits from the low prices of garments are captured by global brands, using their monopsony position, with few buyers and myriad sellers, in the market. This book links the concept of reverse subsidies with those of injustice, inequality and sustainability in global production.

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9781316512272

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Reviews

'Reverse Subsidies in Global Production is an important book and one that brings together telling evidence in a compelling way. The authors analyze the injustices in global value chains and, by extension, the global capitalist economy by interrogating the nature of the interactions of the different segments of the chains: from the producers of inputs of the production workers to the suppliers and brand name buyers. They introduce a concept of critical important to understanding these interactions: the concept of 'reverse subsidies'. Subsidies are widely understood as amounts of funding provided by the state to allow goods and services to be provided or consumed below their cost of production. Reverse subsidies, by contrast, are below-cost provision of goods and services by workers to the profit of suppliers and, more so, brand name companies. This happens because brand name companies download so many costs and risks onto workers – through irregular work orders, low wages or piece rates, delayed payments and rejected goods – that the workers often operate at a loss.' Marty Chen, Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School 'Using reverse subsidies for the basis of analysis is spot on. Continuing to expose the fundamentally unjust economic model that underpins global supply chains is so important and is the pressure that is needed to bring about more effective and sustainable change.' Jenny Holdcroft, Former Policy Director, IndustriAll 'An important contribution to the on-going debate organized around the idea of the 'reverse subsidies' extracted from workers and the environment in global value chains'.' Naila Kabeer, Professor, London School of Economics 'Reverse Subsidies in Global Monopsony Capitalism is a breakthrough book because it develops the ideas of power, social reproduction and economic justice – especially related to gender, climate and caste – through a lens of contemporary global production, organized as it is in complex global value chains, dominated by brand-label firms and subject to deep asymmetries of bargaining power at the level of the firm, the nation and the household. The focus is on south Asian apparel production, but the implications of the framing and the findings go well beyond this region and this sector to give deep insight into the persistence of underdevelopment in a world economy characterized by rapid capital flow and highly liberalized trade.' William Milberg, Dean and Professor of Economics, The New School for Social Research 'SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association) started organising women workers – working from home such as – quilt makers and garment workers, four decades ago. In fact the work of these women workers was not even counted or considered as work either by the contractors or by the Government. It was SEWA that coined the term 'Homebased Workers.' Today SEWA is glad that this term and the work of women is accepted and recognised globally. In this book, we are happy to note that the authors have integrated homeworkers into the overall analysis of exploitative conditions in global value chains.' Reema Nanavaty, Executive Director, SEWA

'Reverse Subsidies in Global Production is an important book and one that brings together telling evidence in a compelling way. The authors analyze the injustices in global value chains and, by extension, the global capitalist economy by interrogating the nature of the interactions of the different segments of the chains: from the producers of inputs of the production workers to the suppliers and brand name buyers. They introduce a concept of critical important to understanding these interactions: the concept of 'reverse subsidies'. Subsidies are widely understood as amounts of funding provided by the state to allow goods and services to be provided or consumed below their cost of production. Reverse subsidies, by contrast, are below-cost provision of goods and services by workers to the profit of suppliers and, more so, brand name companies. This happens because brand name companies download so many costs and risks onto workers - through irregular work orders, low wages or piece rates, delayed payments and rejected goods - that the workers often operate at a loss.' Marty Chen, Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School 'Using reverse subsidies for the basis of analysis is spot on. Continuing to expose the fundamentally unjust economic model that underpins global supply chains is so important and is the pressure that is needed to bring about more effective and sustainable change.' Jenny Holdcroft, Former Policy Director, IndustriAll 'An important contribution to the on-going debate organized around the idea of the 'reverse subsidies' extracted from workers and the environment in global value chains'.' Naila Kabeer, Professor, London School of Economics 'Reverse Subsidies in Global Monopsony Capitalism is a breakthrough book because it develops the ideas of power, social reproduction and economic justice - especially related to gender, climate and caste - through a lens of contemporary global production, organized as it is in complex global value chains, dominated by brand-label firms and subject to deep asymmetries of bargaining power at the level of the firm, the nation and the household. The focus is on south Asian apparel production, but the implications of the framing and the findings go well beyond this region and this sector to give deep insight into the persistence of underdevelopment in a world economy characterized by rapid capital flow and highly liberalized trade.' William Milberg, Dean and Professor of Economics, The New School for Social Research 'SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association) started organising women workers - working from home such as - quilt makers and garment workers, four decades ago. In fact the work of these women workers was not even counted or considered as work either by the contractors or by the Government. It was SEWA that coined the term 'Homebased Workers.' Today SEWA is glad that this term and the work of women is accepted and recognised globally. In this book, we are happy to note that the authors have integrated homeworkers into the overall analysis of exploitative conditions in global value chains.' Reema Nanavaty, Executive Director, SEWA

Author Information

Dev Nathan is Visiting Professor at the Institute for Human Development, New Delhi; and Research Director at the GenDev Centre for Research and Innovation, Haryana, India. His research interests range from the nature of global production to development issues of indigenous peoples and gender relations. He co-authored the book Witch Hunts: Culture, Patriarchy and Structural Transformation (2020). Shikha Silliman Bhattacharjee is a lawyer and researcher focused on migration, supply chains, gender, caste and race in the global economy. She has conducted research and advocacy in collaboration with global institutions like Human Rights Watch, the International Labour Organization and Global Labour Justice-International Labor Rights Forum. S. Rahul teaches at the School of Management and Labour Studies of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. His professional interests are aligned in social analytics and research especially in the areas of developmental research, labour market and global value chains. Purushottam Kumar is a researcher and currently working as a senior program manager with Society for Labour and Development, New Delhi. His research focuses on labour rights in the global value chains of the leather, garment and seafood processing industries. Immanuel Dahaghani is a research consultant from Chennai whose work is focused on labour rights and labour welfare in garments, leather and automobile sectors. He has worked with the Society for Labour and Development (SLD) and the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA). Sukhpal Singh is Professor and Former Chairperson, Centre for Management in Agriculture, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. His research interests lie in small producer and worker livelihoods and collectivization of stakeholders in the context of agribusiness value chains and deregulation of agricultural markets in India and the developing world. Padmini Swaminathan is former Director of the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, where she also held the post of the Reserve Bank of India Chair in Regional Economics. Her research work covers the areas of industrial organization, labour, occupational health and skill development.

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