How Does Global Trade Impact Agricultural?

The Planet Money team produces some of the best shows on the economy, in a form we can all understand. This recent show continues their work on creating a Planet Money T-shirt.

After hearing a young activist ask the question, "Who made your T-shirt?" [Pietra ] Rivoli, a Georgetown economist, realized she didn't know, but she wanted to. She followed the story of one t-shirt across three continents and along the way she witnessed the many ways government impacted its production.

The Planet Money team borrowed the idea of following cotton and T-shirts from Pietra Rivoli, who wrote the book, The Travels of a T-shirt in a Global Economy. Rivoli details not just basic logistics of moving goods but also lays out the complicated global trade policies that governments and businesses negotiate to protect their specific interests.

This particular episode follows cotton fibers from Lubbock, Texas to tossed out T-shirts in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

While this episode talks about cotton, the same issues on trade and policy apply to many other agricultural goods the United States imports and exports.