"An expert on financial markets and regulation explains how middlemen like Amazon, Walmart, and big banks have become so powerful and have entrenched their dominance in the market, providing tips for readers so they can engage in more direct, ethical purchasing."

EU policy-makers have focused on the creation of a “Capital Market Union” to advance the economic vitality of the EU in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09 and the Eurozone crisis of 2011-13. The hope is that EU-wide capital markets will help remedy the limitations in the...