In a letter to the editor of the Financial Times, IEA Research Fellow John Meadowcroft argues that the solution to poverty in developing countries is trade liberalisation.

John argues that “The EU should end subsidies and price-fixing and allow imports from the developing world to compete freely with home-grown products. This would have a far greater positive impact on the world’s poor than the EU’s current multi-million euro development aid budget. Companies such as Microsoft should be granted the freedom to strive for whatever competitive advantage they can muster; in a free market only the consumer has the power to grant an effective monopoly to any company, large or small.”