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Guaranteed Manufactured without Child Labor: The Economics of Consumer Boycotts, Social Labeling and Trade Sanctions

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Author Info

  • 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. Copyright � 2006 The Authors; Journal compilation � 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Wiley Blackwell in its journal Review of Development Economics.

Volume (Year): 10 (2006)
Issue (Month): 3 (08)
Pages: 466-491

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Handle: RePEc:bla:rdevec:v:10:y:2006:i:3:p:466-491

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Web page: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1363-6669

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Cited by:
  1. Matthias Doepke & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2009. "Do International Labor Standards Contribute to the Persistence of the Child Labor Problem?," NBER Working Papers 15050, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Eric Edmonds, 2007. "Child Labor," Working Papers id:988, eSocialSciences.
  3. Jean Marie Baland & Cedric Duprez, 2008. "Are Fair Trade Labels Effective Against Child Labor?," Working Papers id:1559, eSocialSciences.
  4. Chakrabarty, Sayan & Grote, Ulrike, 2009. "Child Labor in Carpet Weaving: Impact of Social Labeling in India and Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 1683-1693, October.
  5. Kaushik Basu & Homa Zarghamee, 2008. "Product boycott a good idea for controlling child labor? A theoretical investigation," Indian Statistical Institute, Planning Unit, New Delhi Discussion Papers 08-09, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi, India.
  6. Basu, Kaushik & Zarghamee, Homa, 2009. "Is product boycott a good idea for controlling child labor? A theoretical investigation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 217-220, March.
  7. Hicks, Robert L. & Schnier, Kurt E., 2008. "Eco-labeling and dolphin avoidance: A dynamic model of tuna fishing in the Eastern Tropical Pacific," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 103-116, September.
  8. Baland, Jean-Marie & Duprez, Cédric, 2009. "Are labels effective against child labor?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1125-1130, December.

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