Tescopoly

Andrew Simms is the Director of the New Economics Foundation, and is ideally placed to have written this eye-opening book. I imagine that nearly every reader of this review shops, at least occasionally, at Tesco. Readers are probably not aware that the Tesco capital in Scotland is Inverness, with three stores already and a further one applied for. Perhaps the central economic dynamic in the book is the relationship between scale or size and economic clout. The larger you are, the more power and influence you have, both economically and politically. In addition, the book documents the evisceration of local communities and shops all over the world by the installation of supermarkets. The dynamic of capitalism also encourages further concentration in market shares, reflecting the global supply chain. This process is associated with globalisation and the encouragement of international trade at the expense of local economies.

For developing countries, this means making hard choices between growing food for their own citizens and for export. If we return to the power issue already mentioned, then supermarkets are in a position to put pressure on producers and those who work for them, with the result that many commodity prices have actually fallen in the last 30 years. This means that the developed countries' cheap food is effectively paid for by poverty in developing countries. Moreover, this food needs to be transported around the world -- it takes up a large proportion of air freight and creates corresponding carbon emissions. The good news is that something can be done about this and indeed is being done in certain localities, on which the author reports. There is a great deal more that could be done by way of regulation, which he spells out, and which many other countries have implemented. At a local level, campaigns have been organised to oppose planning permission for new supermarkets. In the long run, we ourselves as consumers make choices; this is a difficult one, since, for reasons already outlined, supermarkets can offer the lowest prices – 'every little bit helps.' This book is a real wake-up call to encourage us to support local shops where we can rather than the supermarket juggernauts, which Tesco is the largest in Britain, and rapidly expanding abroad.