http://economics.com.au/?p=131&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=well-meaning-demand-and-supply Commentary on economics, strategy and more Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:08:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://economics.com.au/?p=131&cpage=1#comment-121999 CoreEcon » Blog Archive » More on Fairtrade Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:42:01 +0000 http://www.mbs.edu/home/jgans/blog/?p=131#comment-121999 [...] Dani Rodrik is getting concerned about Fairtrade. His concerns are similar to ones I have raised here, here and here. John Barrdear summarises Rodrik’s concerns [...] [...] Dani Rodrik is getting concerned about Fairtrade. His concerns are similar to ones I have raised here, here and here. John Barrdear summarises Rodrik’s concerns [...]

]]> http://economics.com.au/?p=131&cpage=1#comment-121992 On “fair trade” at John Barrdear Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:41:06 +0000 http://www.mbs.edu/home/jgans/blog/?p=131#comment-121992 [...] is not alone in his concerns. Joshua Gans has publically worried about this before (here, here and here). The Economist wrote late last year on the topic here (well worth a read). [...]

]]> http://economics.com.au/?p=131&cpage=1#comment-118662 CoreEcon » Blog Archive » Fairtrade at the ACCC? Sat, 28 Apr 2007 09:45:46 +0000 http://www.mbs.edu/home/jgans/blog/?p=131#comment-118662 [...] here for the story). Their concern is that they are not sure the growers are really better off. I have worried about this myself. Oxfam’s Neil Bowker rejected criticism of the Fairtrade coffee project, saying: [...] [...] here for the story). Their concern is that they are not sure the growers are really better off. I have worried about this myself. Oxfam’s Neil Bowker rejected criticism of the Fairtrade coffee project, saying: [...]

]]> http://economics.com.au/?p=131&cpage=1#comment-93502 CoreEcon » Blog Archive » Fairtrade concerns Tue, 12 Dec 2006 04:03:07 +0000 http://www.mbs.edu/home/jgans/blog/?p=131#comment-93502 [...] I have posted before about my concerns about Fairtrade — the organisation promoting higher prices to growers — despite being otherwise happy with their intentions. (See here and here). This week, The Economist does a review and, in fact, supports to contentions I made in my earlier posts. They asked: who would object to higher prices paid to growers? Economists, for a start. The standard economic argument against Fairtrade goes like this: the low price of commodities such as coffee is due to overproduction, and ought to be a signal to producers to switch to growing other crops. Paying a guaranteed Fairtrade premium—in effect, a subsidy—both prevents this signal from getting through and, by raising the average price paid for coffee, encourages more producers to enter the market. This then drives down the price of non-Fairtrade coffee even further, making non-Fairtrade farmers poorer. Fairtrade does not address the basic problem, argues Tim Harford, author of “The Undercover Economist” (2005), which is that too much coffee is being produced in the first place. Instead, it could even encourage more production. [...] [...] I have posted before about my concerns about Fairtrade — the organisation promoting higher prices to growers — despite being otherwise happy with their intentions. (See here and here). This week, The Economist does a review and, in fact, supports to contentions I made in my earlier posts. They asked: who would object to higher prices paid to growers? Economists, for a start. The standard economic argument against Fairtrade goes like this: the low price of commodities such as coffee is due to overproduction, and ought to be a signal to producers to switch to growing other crops. Paying a guaranteed Fairtrade premium—in effect, a subsidy—both prevents this signal from getting through and, by raising the average price paid for coffee, encourages more producers to enter the market. This then drives down the price of non-Fairtrade coffee even further, making non-Fairtrade farmers poorer. Fairtrade does not address the basic problem, argues Tim Harford, author of “The Undercover Economist” (2005), which is that too much coffee is being produced in the first place. Instead, it could even encourage more production. [...]

]]> http://economics.com.au/?p=131&cpage=1#comment-70386 CoreEcon » Blog Archive » How fair is Starbucks? Sat, 11 Nov 2006 02:36:42 +0000 http://www.mbs.edu/home/jgans/blog/?p=131#comment-70386 [...] A while back I blogged about Fairtrade; the folks who try to secure growers in less developed countries better prices (click here). I worried that, while well-meaning, ultimately, any additional money consumers paid would flow away from growers (perhaps even to the very multinationals accused of paying growers ‘unfairly’). At the moment, I have a crack team of RAs working on whether the assumptions underlying my theorising are true or not and I will report on that in due course. It turns out to be quite hard to get information from the Fairtrade folks. [...] [...] A while back I blogged about Fairtrade; the folks who try to secure growers in less developed countries better prices (click here). I worried that, while well-meaning, ultimately, any additional money consumers paid would flow away from growers (perhaps even to the very multinationals accused of paying growers ‘unfairly’). At the moment, I have a crack team of RAs working on whether the assumptions underlying my theorising are true or not and I will report on that in due course. It turns out to be quite hard to get information from the Fairtrade folks. [...]

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