Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Do Global Value Chains (GVCs) really “boost incomes, create better jobs, and reduce poverty”?
In his new book, co-authored with Christin Bernhold, Benjamin Selwyn challenges this mainstream view by introducing the concept of Capitalist Value Chains (CVCs). Benjamin Selwyn will discuss how CVCs generate highly exploitative jobs, deepen poverty, stunt human development, and damage the environment. Rather than waiting for the promised benefits of “upgrading,” he highlights how workers’ collective action, within specific historical and geographic contexts, can improve pay and conditions. The talk also invites us to imagine a world beyond these capitalist relations of exploitation.
Do Global Value Chains (GVCs) really “boost incomes, create better jobs, and reduce poverty”?
In his new book, co-authored with Christin Bernhold, Benjamin Selwyn challenges this mainstream view by introducing the concept of Capitalist Value Chains (CVCs). Benjamin Selwyn will discuss how CVCs generate highly exploitative jobs, deepen poverty, stunt human development, and damage the environment. Rather than waiting for the promised benefits of “upgrading,” he highlights how workers’ collective action, within specific historical and geographic contexts, can improve pay and conditions. The talk also invites us to imagine a world beyond these capitalist relations of exploitation.
