Is It Guaranteed Watered With the Tears of Indentured Child-Laborers?
Sebastian – let me spell out the claim I am making again – this time in bullet points, which may make it clearer. (1) Libertarians tend by and large, to be very enthusiastic about the benefits of policy-making via markets. They often make very broad and sweeping claims for same. Libertarians frequently propose that policies which are aimed at promoting various social goals (viz. protection of environment etc) be carried out through market means such as self-regulatory schemes combined with commercial reputation, and argue that markets are well suited for these purposes. (2) Many prominent libertarians are also obviously opposed to initiatives such as fair trade coffee. They point to the many ways in which fair trade coffee schemes may have perverse consequences, and not achieve the kinds of the benefits that they purport to. (3) But looked at properly, fair trade coffee shares much in common with the market and self-regulatory mechanisms that libertarians usually prefer. The same criti
