Twenty years ago, Fair Trade started as an effort to enable smallholder producers from developing countries to successfully compete in international markets. Better access to market outlets and stable prices are considered key principles for sustainable poverty reduction and stakeholder participation based on 'trade, not aid'. While Fair Trade is primarily conceived as a trading partnership - based on dialogue, transparency and mutual respect - seeking greater equity in international trade, it relies on an organized social movement promoting standards for (...) production practices and delivery procedures, working conditions and labour remuneration, environmental care and social policies in supply chains of certified tropical goods.Over the past two decades, sales of Fair Trade products have considerably increased. After the first shipments of coffee, the range of products has gradually broadened to include fruit, tea, cocoa, textiles, cosmetics and a whole series of other products. Global Fair Trade sales have steadily grown to approximately EUR 1.6 billion worldwide, covering almost 600 producer organizations in more than 55 developing countries that represent close to a million families of farmers and workers. In recent years, efforts have been made towards mainstreaming of Fair Trade involving large international companies and retail chains.While numerous case studies and descriptive overviews are available to illustrate the importance of Fair Trade for producers and their families in developing countries, little quantitative evidence has been presented to review the socio-economic impact of Fair Trade. This collection of articles provides the first balanced in-depth analysis of the real welfare impact of Fair Trade, paying attention to key dimensions of income, consumption, wealth, environment, empowerment and gender. The core articles are based on extensive field surveys in Peru, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ghana, Kenya and Mexico, and provide valuable insights in the contributions and constraints for producers' involvement in Fair Trade. In addition, attention is paid to the broader implications for international trade regimes and the ethical perspectives on Fair Trade. (shrink)

What should environmentalists say about free trade? Many environmentalists object to free trade by appealing the “Race to the Bottom Argument.” This argument is inconclusive, but there are reasons to worry about unrestricted free trade’s environmental effects nonetheless; the rules of trade embodied in institutions such as the World Trade Organization may be unjustifiable. Programs to compensate for trade-related environmental damage, appropriate trade barriers, and consumer movements may be necessary and desirable. At least environmentalists should consider these alternatives to unrestricted (...) free trade if they do not prevent the achievement of other important moral objectives, can efficiently reduce environmental problems, and institutional safeguards can prevent their abuse. (shrink)

Anyone familiar with The Economist knows the mantra: Free trade will ameliorate poverty by increasing growth and reducing inequality. This paper suggests that problems underlying measurement of poverty, inequality, and free trade provide reason to worry about this argument. Furthermore, the paper suggests that better evidence is necessary to establish that free trade is causing inequality and poverty to fall. Experimental studies usually provide the best evidence of causation. So, the paper concludes with a call for further research into the (...) prospects for ethically acceptable experimental testing of free trade's impact on poverty and inequality. Although the paper is unabashedly methodological, its conclusions bear on many ethical debates. Ethicists sometimes argue, for instance, that there is reason to encourage free trade because they believe free trade is decreasing poverty and inequality. Clarifying the empirical facts may not settle ethical debates but it may inform them. (shrink)

The face of the world is changing. The past century has seen the incredible growth of international institutions. How does the fact that the world is becoming more interconnected change institutions' duties to people beyond borders? Does globalization alone engender any ethical obligations? In Globalization and Global Justice, Nicole Hassoun addresses these questions and advances a new argument for the conclusion that there are significant obligations to the global poor. First, she argues that there are many coercive international institutions and (...) that these institutions must provide the means for their subjects to avoid severe poverty. Hassoun then considers the case for aid and trade, and concludes with a new proposal for fair trade in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Globalization and Global Justice will appeal to readers in philosophy, politics, economics and public policy. (shrink)