Comments on: Quick Musings on Sweatshops and Immigration

By: Gil

Gil — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 05:26:43 +0000

Or it the Minimum Age like the Minimum Wage?

By: Matthew Swaringen

Matthew Swaringen — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 05:34:08 +0000

I think you raise a good point. We aren’t talking about countries where the market follows the non-aggression principle, they conspire and bribe local governments who have no respect for private property rights.

On the other hand, I don’t think it’s deniable that to some degree something that can be described as a sweatshop is just an indication of lower wealth and productivity. It certainly doesn’t help to tell people they can’t work.

By: Matthew Swaringen

Matthew Swaringen — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 05:28:06 +0000

“Today’s world” for the US, hasn’t come to some places. It sounds like you never considered such a thing.

By: P.M.Lawrence

P.M.Lawrence — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 00:00:50 +0000

Michael Kleen recently posted a couple of articles on this theme at Center for a Stateless Society, Do Sweatshops Belong in a Free Market? and More on Sweatshops and Free Markets. He does not quite get to grips with the subject, but many of the comments bring out important aspects. In particular, there is the issue of whether and how those who set up sweatshops also work towards depriving people of alternatives through channels such as conspiring with kleptocrats.

By: Donald Rowe

Donald Rowe — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:36:34 +0000

Let’s not leave the impression that “economics” passes favorable judgment on child labor or child prostitution.

While the science of economics *is* indifferent, people who happen to be economists are not.

The conditions that force one to make a bad choice because it is the best that is available, are political not economic. And as such, the solution is political not economic.

It is the task of economics to explain how and why an action that obviously benefits one person, or a small group, may not be the best for the whole of society.

By: Amanojack

Amanojack — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 10:15:52 +0000

“Economics is the art of not killing people with your good intentions.” <— That quote was made for you, Makia. People work in sweatshops because they want to. Not because they want to work in a sweatshop versus not working at all, but because they want to work in a sweatshop versus working at any of the other jobs that are available. By taking that option away, you would literally be killing people, sending others to early deaths, and causing untold misery.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 05:41:39 +0000

It’s not for the sake of profit, it’s for the sake of complementary income, often necessary to the survival of the family.

So “let them eat cake” is the solution in your little liberal mind, eh?

By: Makia Efimba

Makia Efimba — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 02:32:08 +0000

Child labour is wrong and can never be justified in today’s world for the sake of profit. By the way child prostitution is wrong and it happens in Europe and the West in general, take a look at the case against Italian Prime Minister.

By: Don Lloyd

Don Lloyd — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 01:54:36 +0000

Except for the possibility of arbitrary price controls, knowing productivity and skills, etc., is not enough without knowing per capita money supply.

Regards, Don

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 22:33:18 +0000

Look at the labels on the clothes the anti-sweatshop crowd wears. Guaranteed to find something made in a sweatshop, whether it’s jeans, shirts, socks, underwear, shoes, coats, etc.

By: GSL

GSL — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 19:31:06 +0000

Good piece. It always baffles me that anti-sweatshop people are incapable of considering two things:
1. The Nike executives make a lot more money than the sweatshop workers because it’s much, much harder to find someone with the skill set to run a multinational company effectively than it is to find someone who can stitch shoes together.
2. Maybe American shoe-stitchers make more money than those in developing countries because the labor market is more distorted here (i.e., maybe that labor is a lot more replaceable than they think).