The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade
Written by Webmaster
- ISBN13: 9780470287163
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy has been lauded by the New York Times, Financial Times, and reviewers worldwide. Translated in fourteen languages, Travels has received numerous awards for its frank and nuanced discussion of global economic realities. Now updated and revised–including a discussions of environmental issue–this fascinating book illustrates crucial lessons in the debate on globalization. The major themes and conclusions from th… More >>
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:26 am
I only purchased this item for an MBA class I was taking. This book was ok but, to me, it wasn’t very enthralling. It was informative about the cotton industry works and how the market effects the distribution of t-shirts. Overall this is not a book that I would have chosen to read on my own, although there were some in my class that did enjoy it. Rating: 3 / 5
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:34 am
Worst of both worlds – claims to be anecdotal to get around having to have too much actual information (other than the more boring parts of the history of the American textile industry, but trades in interesting anecdotes for general suppositions and a couple sucess stories.
The last section is very cool and interesting and saves this book from the bin. If you get it, skip to the end. Rating: 3 / 5
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:50 am
It’s all about the money, someone said. This wonderful book starts with the growing of cotton subsidized by the US government, the spinning and weaving in China, the T-shirt making in Bangla Desh or wherever, its wear in the United States, and its ultimnate fate as second-hand clothing in West Africa, the only free market found by the author.
A simple and elegant account of interconnected global economics, of who gets value, who adds value, and who gets the money. Fun to read. Rating: 5 / 5
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:57 am
An economist follows the life of her t-shirt in painful detail. Rivoli starts in the cotton fields of Texas and ends up in Tanzania in the rag and second-hand clothing market. She spends plenty of time in Asia along the way, specifically China, and shares a somewhat dispassionate assessment of sweat shops.
Rivoli spends way too much time talking about the textile lobby in the United States. Throughout, she presents her analysis in a narrative form, and therefore focuses on specific characters and companies to illustrate more comprehensive principles. Her touchstone for the textile lobby is Auggie Tantillo, who led some acronym-laden clothing collective. Rivoli refers to them repeatedly as “Auggie Tantillo and his alphabet army.”
Rivoli finds an interesting balance between activists and exploitative corporations; both are needed to make markets work in an “acceptable” manner. She also does a nice job of separating political machinations from true economic principles and highlighting how complicated global trade really is. Rating: 2 / 5
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:33 am
I am not an expert in economics or business, but this book was easy enough to understand and I got a lot of information from it. I am a slow reader but I finished this book within three days. This is a great book for anyone who want to know about global economy, international problems and so on. This is not like a text book but real entertainment. Highly recommended. Rating: 5 / 5