Guaranteed manufactured without child labor

The economics of consumer boycotts, social labeling and trade sanctions

verfasst von

Arnab K. Basu, Nancy H. Chau, Ulrike Grote

Abstract

Does labeling products "Child-Labor Free" provide a market-based solution to the pervasive employment of child labor? This paper explores the promise of social labeling in the context of its four oft-noted objectives: child labor employment, consumer information, welfare, and trade linkages, when competition between the North and South is based both on comparative cost advantage, and the use of child labor as a hidden product attribute. We show that (i) social labeling benefits consumers and Southern producers, whereas children and Northern producers are worse off; (ii) trade sanctions on unlabeled products deteriorates Southern terms of trade, but leaves the incidence of child labor strictly unaffected; and (iii) a threat to sanction imports of unlabeled Southern products discourages the South from maintaining a credible social labeling program. We also explore the question of whether social labeling should be viewed as a transitory or a permanent institution in developing economies.

Externe Organisation(en)

College of William and Mary
Cornell University
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Review of development economics

Band

10

Seiten

466-491

Anzahl der Seiten

26

ISSN

1363-6669

Publikationsdatum

25.07.2006

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Geografie, Planung und Entwicklung, Entwicklung

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 1 – Keine Armut, SDG 8 – Anständige Arbeitsbedingungen und wirtschaftliches Wachstum

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9361.2006.00335.x (Zugang: Geschlossen)