scholarly journals Fair Trade phenomenon – limits of neoclassical and chances of heterodox economics

2019 ◽  
pp. 9-37
Author(s):  
Anna Horodecka ◽  
Magdalena Śliwińska

Contemporary research exploring the Fair Trade movement does not provide a clear answer whether the overall impact of Fair Trade is positive or negative and what are the real motives of Fair Trade consumers. In the paper we investigate whether the assumptions of selected heterodox schools (feminist, ecological and humanist) fit better to the reality of the Fair Trade movement than those of the neoclassical theory. Although ‘better fitness’ does not necessarily mean ‘better explanation’, the mismatch with reality may constitute an obstacle in identifying a crucial aspect of the researched phenomenon (i.e. Fair Trade), harming explanation of its existence and development.

Author(s):  
D. Andrews

In classical political economy, the real wage derives its reality from its association with a given set of products that provides for the subsistence of workers through time. In neoclassical theory the connection between the real wage and a given set of products is broken, because the restriction of workers’ consumption to a particular set of products conflicts with the idea of individual consumer preference. Thus, the ‘reality’ of the real wage in neoclassical theory is grounded differently, in a particular standard of value that can be called an index number standard. The difficulties involved with this construction raise questions about the theoretical adequacy of the notion of real wage itself. In particular, this leads to a conclusion that stands in sharp contrast to the empiricist proclamations of neoclassical theory.


2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Pavanelli

Irving Fisher is widely regarded as one of the greatest economists of the twentieth century, and his achievements in neoclassical theory have had a profound influence on contemporary research. However, while there is no lack of research into the international diffusion of Keynes's thought, very little is known about how Fisher's ideas spread among scholars and policymakers throughout different countries. Yet, an understanding of when and how Fisher's writings influenced economic theorizing and policy debates worldwide could shed new light on the process of international transmission of economic ideas in general and on the evolution of the neoclassical paradigm in particular.


Author(s):  
Laura T. Raynolds ◽  
Nicholas Greenfield

2018 ◽  
pp. 107-127
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Picavet

In several avenues of contemporary research, much attention is devoted to the contrast between the real authority of institution and their formal power, in the analysis of institutional funtionings; also in the study of the relationships between institutions on the one hand, rules, principles or norms on the other hand. Such a contrast appears to be based on familiar observations: the capacity of institutions to get their preferred outcomes (their so-called „real authority”) is sometimes loosely connected with the hierarchical prerogatives of the considered institutions (their „formal power”). More particularly, current studies of the „migration authority” bring out possible shitts in real authority while there is no changein the formal structure of power. This article will partly consist  in the explanation of recent results of common reaserch in project „Delicom”, in which a formal treatment of the distinction has been put foward. This approach will be set against the background of recent contributions in political science or economics (in the works of Ph. Aghion and J. Tirole, J. Backhaus, L. Thorlakson). The revelance of the problematic for the study of competence delegation among institutions will be stressed all along.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Koichi Ikegami

Fair Trade is drastically expanding to mainstream in the 2000s. Even in the Republic of South Africa (South Africa) has the Fair Trade Movement appeared in agricultural and food sectors. Management companies and white farms are not marginalized people, who are major target of Fair Trade movement in general. This paper intended to answer the questions why management companies and white farms are involved in Fair Trade movement. The paper argued that major players of Fair Trade in South Africa is a large commercial farm owned by white South Africans who are very sensitive to political pressure. Fair Trade movement in South Africa. South Africa is facing a difficult problem on how to reduce the poor-rich distinction in agriculture. From this context, land reform should be urgently and strongly promoted. Land reform gave impacts by way of two courses. One is the necessity of economic sustainability by introducing a concept of ‘fairness’ as appealing new added value, followed by initiating Fair Trade farms and Strategic Partnership Approach. The other is the politico-psychological pressure to secure good reputation of ‘fairness’, which was caused by social pressure of land reform and domestic policies seeking for reduction of disparities between rural-urban and agriculture-industry relationships. Although the land reform is urgent for economic sustainability, but the land reform farm failed to continue their business due to the lack of know-how and knowledge concerning farm activities and lack of good market access and the market structure to block native Africans to sell in a free way. In this point, Fair Trade is one of possible solutions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Heather Walker

<p>A development initiative at its core, fair trade endeavors to provide better trading conditions for disadvantaged producers in the world market system, such as smallholder coffee farmers, who face a volatile market and prices that have yet to recover from a deep price crisis in the early 2000s. With the onset of labeling and certification, fair trade entered the mainstream by the late 1990s, and has continued to demonstrate strong growth in sales. Moreover, new producer organizations are becoming certified in an expanding number of countries, and fair trade coffee is expanding beyond its traditionally dominant productive center in Latin America.  To explore how fair trade is established, and interacts with, new producer contexts, a case study was performed with five fair trade certified coffee cooperatives in Aceh, Indonesia, all of whom have gained certification within the last 10 years, was performed. This thesis sought to understand the particularities behind how fair trade reached Aceh, what factors influenced its implementation, and how coffee producers experience their participation in the fair trade movement. Further, particular attention was paid to the practice and formation of the cooperatives’ structures and policies; fair trade requires that coffee farmers are organized into democratically owned and governed cooperatives, an institution relatively unpracticed in Indonesia.</p>


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