two things

• Even Dani Rodrik is confused by the economic literacy of fair trade. Speaking of which, have any fair trade advocates actually come out and accepted the empirical critiques that have subsequently emerged? Or have they all moved onto another false gimmick?
• Scott Adams on why studying economics reduces cognitive dissonance. Alas this doesn't help us for those who aren't engaged in a search for truth (see above).

Comments

[Jim]

Dani Rodrik's post is not an 'empirical critique'. Like most critiques of fair trade, it is mainly a generalised whinge which makes no attempt to find out what the actual impact on FT farmers is.

[aje]

I didn't say it was an empirical critique, I merely claimed that they have been made and I'm yet to see adequate responses. Maybe I should have provided links, but as a regular reader you'll know I've discussed this on many occasions.

For example:

http://www.google.com/search?q=fairtrade&btnG=%C2%BB&domains=thefilter.blogs.com&sitesearch=thefilter.blogs.com