IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-59881-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unequal exchange is not primarily about monetary value

Author

Listed:
  • Alf Hornborg

    (Lund University)

Abstract

Ecologically Unequal Exchange (EUE) theory reframes trade as asymmetric transfers of biophysical resources from South to North, rejecting monetary value metrics. It challenges both mainstream and Marxian economics by emphasizing material flows over money-based interpretations of global inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Alf Hornborg, 2025. "Unequal exchange is not primarily about monetary value," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-3, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59881-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59881-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59881-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-59881-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrea Ricci, 2019. "Unequal Exchange in the Age of Globalization," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 51(2), pages 225-245, June.
    2. Hornborg, Alf, 1998. "Towards an ecological theory of unequal exchange: articulating world system theory and ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 127-136, April.
    3. Jason Hickel & Morena Hanbury Lemos & Felix Barbour, 2024. "Unequal exchange of labour in the world economy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Pérez-Sánchez, Laura & Velasco-Fernández, Raúl & Giampietro, Mario, 2021. "The international division of labor and embodied working time in trade for the US, the EU and China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    5. Dorninger, Christian & Hornborg, Alf & Abson, David J. & von Wehrden, Henrik & Schaffartzik, Anke & Giljum, Stefan & Engler, John-Oliver & Feller, Robert L. & Hubacek, Klaus & Wieland, Hanspeter, 2021. "Global patterns of ecologically unequal exchange: Implications for sustainability in the 21st century," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    6. Hickel, Jason & Hanbury Lemos, Morena & Barbour, Felix, 2024. "Unequal exchange of labour in the world economy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 124543, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hekmatpour, Peyman & Leslie, Carrie McLachlin, 2022. "Ecologically unequal exchange and disparate death rates attributable to air pollution: A comparative study of 169 countries from 1991 to 2017," OSF Preprints racms, Center for Open Science.
    2. Althouse, Jeffrey & Cahen-Fourot, Louison & Carballa-Smichowski, Bruno & Durand, Cédric & Knauss, Steven, 2023. "Ecologically unequal exchange and uneven development patterns along global value chains," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    3. Tunç, Gül İpek & Akbostancı, Elif & Türüt-Aşık, Serap, 2022. "Ecological unequal exchange between Turkey and the European Union: An assessment from value added perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    4. Olk, Christopher, 2024. "How much a dollar cost: Currency hierarchy as a driver of ecologically unequal exchange," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    5. Franklin Obeng‐Odoom, 2022. "Editor’s Introduction: Retheorizing Ecological Imperialism," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 81(3), pages 417-441, May.
    6. Smith, Matthew & Christopoulos, Dimitris, 2025. "GVC participation and carbon emissions – A network analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    7. Roos, Andreas, 2022. "Global asymmetries in the rise of solar power: An LCA-based account of ecologically unequal exchange between Germany and China 2002–2018," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    8. Hickel, Jason & Dorninger, Christian & Wieland, Hanspeter & Suwandi, Intan, 2022. "Imperialist appropriation in the world economy: drain from the global South through unequal exchange, 1990–2015," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113823, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Goddard, Jessica J. & Kallis, Giorgos & Norgaard, Richard B., 2019. "Keeping multiple antennae up: Coevolutionary foundations for methodological pluralism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Alf Hornborg, 2021. "Beyond the Image of COVID-19 as Nature’s Revenge: Understanding Globalized Capitalism through an Epidemiology of Money," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-11, April.
    11. Steven A. Mejia, 2023. "Global inequities in the prevalence of undernourishment," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 104(3), pages 329-344, May.
    12. Pan, Yue & Chai, Jian & Tian, Lingyue & Zhang, Xiaokong & Wang, Jiaoyan, 2024. "Regional inequality in China's electricity trade," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    13. Pellegris, Alban & Court, Victor, 2025. "The rise and fall of neoliberalism: Evidences from an ecological and regulationist analysis of France (1960–2020)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    14. Kosoy, Nicolás & Corbera, Esteve, 2010. "Payments for ecosystem services as commodity fetishism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1228-1236, April.
    15. Engler, John-Oliver & Kretschmer, Max-Friedemann & Rathgens, Julius & Ament, Joe A. & Huth, Thomas & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2024. "15 years of degrowth research: A systematic review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    16. Demaria, Federico, 2010. "Shipbreaking at Alang-Sosiya (India): An ecological distribution conflict," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 250-260, December.
    17. Koskimäki, Teemu, 2023. "Targeting socioeconomic transformations to achieve global sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    18. Matthew Sanderson & R. Frey, 2015. "Structural impediments to sustainable groundwater management in the High Plains Aquifer of western Kansas," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(3), pages 401-417, September.
    19. LaRota-Aguilera, María José & Delgadillo-Vargas, Olga Lucía & Tello, Enric, 2022. "Sociometabolic research in Latin America: A review on advances and knowledge gaps in agroecological trends and rural perspectives," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    20. Mengyao Han & Shuchang Li, 2021. "Transfer Patterns and Drivers of Embodied Agricultural Land within China: Based on Multi-Regional Decomposition Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-16, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59881-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.