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1. For many reasons, commodities can be produced at a lower price in locations far
from demand centers, and can be produced or stored far from a local shock that
has disrupted local supply, and thus trade can lower the cost of a product and
increase its accessibility.
2. Trade can support utilization (the ability of a person to make use of the resource
productively) through the import of equipment such as refrigeration, cookers,
vehicles, water treatment, waste management, and expertise (human services),
and by allowing producers in low-population and resource-rich areas to more
fully utilize available land and energy resources to produce goods for export.
3. Trade allows for the stable and reliable provision of commodities that are subject to variability because of growing seasons, disruption because of natural
disasters, and other factors.
Trade is a broad concept that generally refers to buying and selling of goods and
services, but in this chapter, as is conventional in the academic economics literature,
trade refers specifically to the exchange between nations, but more generally to
trade between regions (Chap. 5).
Trade is one of the main adaptive behaviors by which humanity has historically
responded to local resource scarcity, and to shocks and stresses. Trade has been a
major tool used by humanity to raise its productivity and standard of living
(Chap. 4). FEW trade policy tends to balance self-sufficiency objectives against the
need to access less expensive commodities or access commodities during local
shocks like drought or severe winter weather.
In general, trade increases resilience to disruptions in food, energy, and water
supplies by increasing a region’s ability to access diverse suppliers in times of need.
It is unheard of in the modern global world for a region or nation to suffer severe
food, energy, or water supply shocks if that nation is wealthy and well-connected to
global suppliers via trade. However, it remains tragically routine for severe food
energy and water supply shocks to impact traditional peoples and economies that
lack access to the global trade network (e.g., famine in the Horn of Africa).
The net benefits of trade to FEW resilience are strongly positive, global producers of a commodity are generally diversified, mitigating major disruptions. However,
trade shocks can be and have been, used as a geopolitical weapon when the
international trade markets are overly dependent on a small number of exporters.
This was powerfully illustrated by the 1973 disruptions in oil world petroleum
supplies by certain members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC, more below).
Trade is an ancient institution that has for millennia moved geographically rare
goods like salt, obsidian, metal tools, spices, and gems thousands of miles. Every
historical civilization engaged in trade across long distances. Trade was arguably
the primary motivating force behind the exploration of the Earth. However, in the
past 100 years, trade has accelerated exponentially in both absolute and relative
terms. Five historical turning points that notably accelerated trade include:
1. The medieval Islamic Expansion and subsequent Crusades which connected the
Old World from Europe to China (632–1291),
P. Saundry and B. L. Ruddell
1. For many reasons, commodities can be produced at a lower price in locations far
from demand centers, and can be produced or stored far from a local shock that
has disrupted local supply, and thus trade can lower the cost of a product and
increase its accessibility.
2. Trade can support utilization (the ability of a person to make use of the resource
productively) through the import of equipment such as refrigeration, cookers,
vehicles, water treatment, waste management, and expertise (human services),
and by allowing producers in low-population and resource-rich areas to more
fully utilize available land and energy resources to produce goods for export.
3. Trade allows for the stable and reliable provision of commodities that are subject to variability because of growing seasons, disruption because of natural
disasters, and other factors.
Trade is a broad concept that generally refers to buying and selling of goods and
services, but in this chapter, as is conventional in the academic economics literature,
trade refers specifically to the exchange between nations, but more generally to
trade between regions (Chap. 5).
Trade is one of the main adaptive behaviors by which humanity has historically
responded to local resource scarcity, and to shocks and stresses. Trade has been a
major tool used by humanity to raise its productivity and standard of living
(Chap. 4). FEW trade policy tends to balance self-sufficiency objectives against the
need to access less expensive commodities or access commodities during local
shocks like drought or severe winter weather.
In general, trade increases resilience to disruptions in food, energy, and water
supplies by increasing a region’s ability to access diverse suppliers in times of need.
It is unheard of in the modern global world for a region or nation to suffer severe
food, energy, or water supply shocks if that nation is wealthy and well-connected to
global suppliers via trade. However, it remains tragically routine for severe food
energy and water supply shocks to impact traditional peoples and economies that
lack access to the global trade network (e.g., famine in the Horn of Africa).
The net benefits of trade to FEW resilience are strongly positive, global producers of a commodity are generally diversified, mitigating major disruptions. However,
trade shocks can be and have been, used as a geopolitical weapon when the
international trade markets are overly dependent on a small number of exporters.
This was powerfully illustrated by the 1973 disruptions in oil world petroleum
supplies by certain members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC, more below).
Trade is an ancient institution that has for millennia moved geographically rare
goods like salt, obsidian, metal tools, spices, and gems thousands of miles. Every
historical civilization engaged in trade across long distances. Trade was arguably
the primary motivating force behind the exploration of the Earth. However, in the
past 100 years, trade has accelerated exponentially in both absolute and relative
terms. Five historical turning points that notably accelerated trade include:
1. The medieval Islamic Expansion and subsequent Crusades which connected the
Old World from Europe to China (632–1291),
P. Saundry and B. L. Ruddell