https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/cf071d69-1eba-401d-9815-7a7d47b2bd52 Torkil Lauesen joins us to discuss his book Unequal Exchange: Past, Present, and Future and the hidden mechanics of modern imperialism. Lauesen returns to the tradition of Arghiri Emmanuel to argue that while the world market tends to equalize prices, wages remain radically unequal across borders -- driving a structural transfer of value from low-wage production zones to high-wage consumer economies. We walk through Lauesen’s reconstruction of unequal exchange through Marx’s value theory, the leading approaches to measuring global value transfer, and what contemporary estimates imply about the scale of the drain. From there, we explore the political consequences inside the Global North: why reformism and social democracy have often been stabilized by imperial arrangements, what that means for internationalism, and why the “imperial mode of living” is increasingly unstable. Finally, we turn to the shifting world order -- especially Lauesen’s argument that a new mode of production may be emerging, best exemplified by China -- and what that implies for the future of capitalism, multipolarity, and socialist transition. We also discuss the ongoing war/conflict involving Iran and what it reveals about crisis, hegemony, and the changing methods of imperial power. Check out our other episodes with Torkil: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/size/5/?search=torkil outro Music: 'Antithesnails' by spinitch and Chaz Matador Support Rev Left and get bonus episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/revleftradio Make a one-time donation to Rev Left at BuyMeACoffee.com/revleftradio Follow RLR on IG https://www.instagram.com/rev_left_radio_official/ Learn more about Rev Left: https://revleftradio.com/ Mon, 04 May 2026 18:04:35 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://tankie.tube https://tankie.tube/lazy-static/avatars/3ba3ff73-a8b6-49c9-add8-9653ef090c7f.webp https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/cf071d69-1eba-401d-9815-7a7d47b2bd52 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://tankie.tube/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.