Fair Trade Advocacy--Social Justice or Protectionism?
My children came home from their left wing indoctrination pod, excuse me, I mean public school, with a flyer announcing that there will be a documentary presented next week (1/26), in the evening, entitled "The Dark Side of Chocolate" by Miki Mistrati & U. Roberto Romano. Here's the precis:
Did you know that most of the world's chocolate is produced with child labor? Children work for long hours. They are even kidnapped, beaten, and locked up at night! Come learn about fair trade chocolate. And un-fair trade chocolate practices. but the issue isn't just black and white! You can find out more in the movie. We will answer any questions (relevant to the topic), so feel free to ask!
Brough to you by: the fourth grade fair trade chocolate no child labor group.
Sigh. Now I discover that my kids' school has a fourth grade activist group--I'm glad all those pesky math and reading problems have been solved, so now there's time for higher learning. But I digress.
My real question is what's the conservative/libertarian position on fair trade advocacy? Every time I hear somebody expounding on it, I get the queasy feeling I'm being played. Is it anywhere close to true that "most ... chocolate is produced with child labor"? And if that's true (which isn't necessarily in itself a bad thing) how much basis is there to the claim about kidnappings and beatings? Has anybody seen this movie or know anything about the documentarists? It sounds like they are going to be present for the showing.
This is a great service. I live in the heart of indigo-ness--Montpelier, VT. Ricochet is one of my few lifelines to a rightward viewpoint.
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Answer by Dan Hanson
'Fair Trade' is an attempt to apply 1st world workplace rules and living standards to 3rd world countries. This has the effect of freezing those countries out of the global marketplace.
A poor country has many disadvantages when it comes to trade - political instability, poor infrastructure, a poorly educated, unhealthy workforce, and geographic distance from major markets. The only comparative advantage they have to offer is the low cost of their labor. Take that away from them by demanding a 'living wage' and 1st world working conditions as a condition of trade, and they become non-competitive and trade stops.
Being able to compete in the global marketplace and attract foreign investment is the only way these countries can hope to boost their standard of living and eventually attain 1st world living standards. Build sweatshops today, and the companies that invest in them will help fund better roads, power grids, communications, and other crucial infrastructure. As the infrastructure gets better, the factories become more profitable. That allows them to re-invest in even better infrastructure. As more companies come in to take advantage of the opportunity, competition for labor drives up wages, but this time it's sustainable because the factories are more productive.
It's a bootstrapping process that by necessity has to start near the bottom. Take away that bottom rung on the ladder of development, and you doom these countries to third-world status forever.
A good counter-video to the fair trade videos might be the first episode of 'Free To Choose', the TV adaptation of Milton Friedman's famous defense of capitalism:
Free To Choose - The Power of the Market
Another very good defense of free trade, from non-other than Paul Krugman: In Praise of Cheap Labor.
Answer by Western Chauvinist
The National Post had an interesting article about this describing the certification costs for the farmers to join these fair trade co-ops, how their "best" beans are selected out even though all the beans are essentially the same, and how fair trade is basically artificially inflating prices for products of no more value than what the un-co-opted farmer produces. Unfortunately, the Post has rebuilt its site and the link is no longer valid.
The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is a great resource for this sort of thing. Here's the result for a "fair trade" search on the site, and here's a good article describing the market distortions and possible real "fair" solutions for helping the poor.
Answer by John Murdoch
Resources to consider:
The "fair trade" campaign
http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/fairtrade/MovieScreening.cfm
http://www.raisethebarhershey.org/
You can see the trailer for the film here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y882AajKo1s&feature=player_embedded
Resources on "fair trade" vs. "free trade"
http://www.economist.com/debate/overview/172
At it's best, "fair trade" involves well-to-do Americans paying a bit more for their morning coffee than the market price. In exchange for a few cents more, they get to feel morally superior. It's like driving a Prius, just a lot less expensive. Probably the biggest proponent of "fair trade" (particularly regarding coffee) is Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, a very large Vermont employer.
At it's worst, "fair trade" can be a form of "green mail"--where a large corporation is targeted for perceived violations of fairness. That seems to be the case here: the film is related to a campaign called "Raise the Bar, Hershey" aimed at forcing Hershey to, in turn, force their supply chain to pay higher wages and end unspecified abuses. You might review Hershey's 2009 state on corporate social responsibility for their take on the matter.
I'd object to the indoctrination--and ask whether the teachers involved have done any kind of research the on the subject beyond watching the movie and hyperventilating. In particular, have they considered the resources linked to above (found in 5 minutes of Googling). If not, then why are we only presenting one side of the story? Shouldn't fourth graders be encouraged to learn all the facts?
The Logo: Good topic! There are three questions built in here, and it may be useful to repost these as separate items:
- What's the conservative/libertarian position on fair trade advocacy?
- Is it anywhere close to true that "most... chocolate is produced by child labor"?
- To what extent is kidnapping, beating, and captivity used to facilitate child labor?
Edited on Jan 19 at 5:13pmThe Logo: A related Ricochet conversation:
http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Markets-and-Morals
Trace Urdan: "This American Life" recently reported on labor practices in China that included a highly effective rebuttal and the rebuttal was essentially this: "compared to what." Conditions we might consider brutal are seen as far less brutal than the alternative by those participating. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/454/mr-daisey-and-the-apple-factory
Ottoman Umpire: Just quickly coming across this question, so my hurried response doesn't really rise to an Answer. But this article has some statistics in it. http://www1.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm
Edited on Jan 26 at 12:39amJoin Ricochet or Sign In to add your comment.