The wealth of (some) nations : imperialism and the mechanics of value transfer / Zak Cope

Includes bibliographical references and index

List of figures and tables -- Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part 1 The mechanics of imperialism : Value transfer -- Colonial tribute -- Monopoly rent -- Unequal exchange. Part 2 The econometrics of imperialism : Imperialism and its denial -- Measuring imperialist value transfer -- Measuring colonial value transfer -- Comparing value transfer to profits, wages and capital. Part 3 Foundations of the labor aristocracy : Anti-imperialist Marxism and the wages of imperialism -- The metropolitan labor aristocracy -- The native labor aristocracy. Part 4 Social imperialism past and present : Social imperialism before the First World War -- Social imperialism after the First World War -- Social-imperialist Marxism -- Conclusion: imperialism and anti-imperialism today. Appendix: physical quality of life in capitalist and socialist countries -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

The author makes the case that capitalism is empirically inseparable from imperialism, historically and today. Using a rigorous political economy framework, he lays bare the vast ongoing transfer of wealth from the poorest to the richest countries through the mechanisms of monopoly rent, unequal exchange and colonial tribute. The result is a polarized international class structure with a relatively rich global North and an impoverished, exploited global South. The author makes the controversial claim that it is because of these conditions that workers in rich countries benefit from higher incomes and welfare systems with public health, education, pensions and social security. As a result, the internationalism of populations in the global North is weakened and transnational solidarity is compromised. The only way forward, the author argues, is through a renewed anti-imperialist politics rooted in a firm commitment to a radical labor internationalism