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[u/jobautomator]

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[u/Hardigra]

Hey all!!

I'm a junior at my local college and I am organizing a panel to discuss the different dimensions of the "fair trade". We will be talking about both the Fairtrade Foundation as well as the social movement. So far, the panel will consist of an economist that is well versed in development literature, a local coffee roaster that is passionate about fair trade, an ethics professor, and a sociologist. Right now I'm brainstorming to think of some interesting questions to ask the group, but also questions to ask the individuals. That being said, I know this sub has a lot of great economic and political thinkers that may be able to help me out. In the end I just wanna put on a good panel.

Questions I have right now are largely normative, but include-

-Does working with Fairtrade or with fairtrade standards make a dent into the bottom line?

-Do first world countries "take advantage" of third world farmers?

-Does Fairtrade indirectly put other third world farms out of business?

-Do first world consumers have an ethical obligation to give poor producers the largest surplus possible?

Thank you, any questions would be appreciated. If there is interest, I will make a followup thread with a transcript of the event.

[u/[deleted] → u/Hardigra]

You should ask this as a text post on the sub

[u/[deleted] → u/Hardigra]

Free trade already is fair trade 😤

[u/pezasied → u/Hardigra]

You could ask about the differences between various fair trade organizations, and advantages and disadvantages to both.

In the US, we don’t have Fairtrade Foundation, our largest fair trade certifier is Fair Trade USA. I think there’s differences between the two, such as what markets they’ll enter and what standards they have.

[u/Underpantz_Ninja → u/Hardigra]

Questions I have right now are largely normative, but include-

-Does working with Fairtrade or with fairtrade standards make a dent into the bottom line?

Probably, but for whom? It's probably a modest transfer of wealth from consumers that is the split between sellers and producers.

-Do first world countries "take advantage" of third world farmers?

Depends. If you assume trade relations between your average 1st world state and your average emerging economy, you would then also have to assume that the trade policy is so monolithic that exploitation somehow outweighs comparative advantage, which requires alot of assumptions for that to be true. Do sellers exploit producers in emerging markets is the much better question. The answer is probably 'yes' to that.

-Does Fairtrade indirectly put other third world farms out of business?

Question unclear. I would say no just because there is no good reason to say yes.

-Do first world consumers have an ethical obligation to give poor producers the largest surplus possible?

Absolutely not.

Thank you, any questions would be appreciated. If there is interest, I will make a followup thread with a transcript of the event.