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Lack Of Rigour In Defending Fairtrade: A Reply To Alastair Smith

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  • Peter Griffiths

Abstract

Alastair Smith (2009) claims to refute a few criticisms of Fairtrade. It is shown that his empirical evidence consists of anecdotes with no statistical or other evidential value, and that his economics is wrong. Though Fairtrade is an agricultural marketing system, he appears not to be aware of the literature on agricultural marketing or co‐operatives. Accordingly he makes statements not in accord with the accepted theory or evidence. He assumes, for instance, backward‐sloping supply curves and that the prices offered by state marketing boards are not affected by markets. There are ethical trading alternatives which avoid all the criticisms of Fairtrade.

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  • Peter Griffiths, 2010. "Lack Of Rigour In Defending Fairtrade: A Reply To Alastair Smith," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 45-49, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecaffa:v:30:y:2010:i:2:p:45-49
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0270.2010.02010.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mann, Stefan, 2008. "Analysing fair trade in economic terms," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 2034-2042, October.
    2. Kirsty Golding & Ken Peattie, 2005. "In search of a golden blend: perspectives on the marketing of fair trade coffee," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(3), pages 154-165.
    3. David R. Henderson, 2008. "Fair Trade Is Counterproductive – And Unfair," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 62-64, September.
    4. Laura Raynolds, 2000. "Re-embedding global agriculture: The international organic and fair trade movements," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 17(3), pages 297-309, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dick Durevall, 2020. "Fairtrade and Market Efficiency: Fairtrade-Labeled Coffee in the Swedish Coffee Market," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Peter Griffiths, 2015. "Marketing by Controlling Social Discourse: The Fairtrade Case," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 256-271, June.
    3. Ryan H Murphy, 2016. "The willingness-to-pay for Caplanian irrationality," Rationality and Society, , vol. 28(1), pages 52-82, February.
    4. Felgendreher, Simon, 2018. "Do consumers choose to stay ignorant? The role of information in the purchase of ethically certified products," Working Papers in Economics 717, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.

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