Book · 2021 · Business & Economics
The World for Sale
Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources
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It's called The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources.
Stephen Dubner · Freakonomics Radio · Mar 2026 Listen at 2:12 Why people recommend it
The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources by Javier Blas and Jack Farchy is a financial investigation into the secretive commodity traders who control global raw materials. Stephen Dubner featured the book on Freakonomics Radio, explaining that he finally took the volume off his shelf and found it profoundly impactful. Dubner detailed how the authors, both financial journalists at Bloomberg, documented handshake deals, bribes, and questionable business arrangements involving warlords, dictators, and major corporations. Throughout the episode and a subsequent update, Dubner cited specific anecdotes from the text, such as oil trading maneuvers, to illustrate the immense, often invisible power these traders hold over international commerce. By exploring corporate compliance and past misconduct within the commodity sector, the podcast used the book as a lens to examine the complex intersections of global finance, geopolitics, and corporate power.
Every mention
Stephen Dubner It's called The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources. 3
“It's called The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources.”
“The book we are talking about today is called The World for Sale: Money, Power, Earth's Resources. The authors are Javier Bllo and Jack Fartie, a pair of financial journalists at Bloomberg.”
“In their book, The World for Sale, Javier Bloss and Jack Fartie describe handshake deals with a multitude of warlords and dictators.”