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Sweatshop Regulation: Tradeoffs and Welfare Judgements

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  • Benjamin Powell

    (Texas Tech University)

Abstract

The standard economic and ethical case in defense of sweatshops employs the standard of the “welfare of their workers and potential workers” to argue that sweatshop regulations harm the very people they intend to help. Scholars have recently contended that once the benefits and costs are balanced, regulations do, in fact, raise worker welfare. This paper describes the short and long-run tradeoffs associated with sweatshop regulation and then examines how reasonable constructions of measures of “worker welfare” would evaluate these tradeoffs finding that the standard economic and ethical case against sweatshop regulations is well supported.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Powell, 2018. "Sweatshop Regulation: Tradeoffs and Welfare Judgements," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 29-36, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:151:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3227-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3227-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Damian Bäumlisberger, 2021. "A Nozickian Case for Compulsory Employment Injury Insurance: The Example of Sweatshops," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 13-27, September.

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