Refashioning the Rag Trade

Since the early 1980s, successive Australian governments have adhered to a national industry strategy of 'international competitiveness'. - Underwritten by the rise of neo-classical economics (or economic rationalism) it included the removal of tariffs, quotas and other protection and the wholesale restructure of many manufacturing industries. - The authors trace the history of the changes as they were applied to Australia's textiles clothing and footwear industries, describing both the nature and extent of the transformation of the industry and then considering the consequences for the workers in the industry. - The book exposes the serious inadequacies of economic theories on which the whole change process was based. - It reveals that the benefits of 'free trade' have been seriously oversold to Australians, and measures the true costs of trade liberalisation as rising inequality, unemployment and marginalisation.