Trade Treaties, Privatization, & Austerity

Good afternoon AltAusterity Readers! This week we bring you a paper by Scott Sinclair (CCPA) that he presented at our Berlin conference earlier this year. Titled, "Trade Treaties, Privatization, and Austerity", Scott's paper tells us about how free trade agreements (FTAs) have played a major supporting role in "furthering commercialization (a term which encompasses but is broader than privatization) of services".

He notes that over the last twenty-five years that the scope of regional and bilateral FTAs has been continually expanded to cover services and investment matters, and further, recurring negotiations and more far-reaching FTAs exert pressure for public and essential services to be opened to international competition and contestable by multinational firms. Ultimately Scott suggests that although the changes routinely inflicted under structural adjustment or austerity programs are swifter and more brutal, FTAs reinforce the privatization and commercialization of public services.

Read his full paper under "Spending, Reform, & Marketization" on our Research pager.

If you would like to know more about Scott, check out his profile page on CCPA's website: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/projects/trade-and-investment-research-project/about-us/staff

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