IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/oxdevs/v37y2009i4p457-478.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fair Trade, Diversification and Structural Change: Towards a Broader Theoretical Framework of Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Alastair Smith

Abstract

This paper responds to the argument that while Fair Trade governance might increase short-term welfare, it reduces long-term development prospects by discouraging diversification and structural change. Even though it is agreed that lower-value sectors, such as commodity agriculture, are unlikely to offer a long-term solution to global income inequalities, the importance of their short- and medium-term contributions cannot be ignored. Furthermore, critics have evaluated Fair Trade governance against the benchmark of perfect market organization. However, given the realities of the developing world, dismantling Fair Trade abandons poor producers not to theoretical free markets and successful diversification, but to market failures, capability constraints, and risk management issues—all of which present serious obstacles to beneficial change. In light of this, analysis of the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International is used to argue that, far from being detrimental, Fair Trade might actively contribute to diversification by alleviating some of the real-world obstacles that otherwise retard development.

Suggested Citation

  • Alastair Smith, 2009. "Fair Trade, Diversification and Structural Change: Towards a Broader Theoretical Framework of Analysis," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 457-478.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:37:y:2009:i:4:p:457-478
    DOI: 10.1080/13600810903305208
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13600810903305208
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13600810903305208?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marcel Fafchamps, 2003. "Rural Poverty, Risk and Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3127.
    2. Klinger, Bailey & Lederman, Daniel, 2004. "Discovery and development : an empricial exploration of"new"products," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3450, The World Bank.
    3. Rodrik, Dani, 2004. "Industrial Policy for the Twenty-First Century," CEPR Discussion Papers 4767, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Collier, Paul, 2008. "The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195374636, Decembrie.
    5. Harold Alderman & Christina H. Paxson, 1994. "Do the Poor Insure? A Synthesis of the Literature on Risk and Consumption in Developing Countries," International Economic Association Series, in: Edmar L. Bacha (ed.), Economics in a Changing World, chapter 3, pages 48-78, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Wagner, Alfred, 1891. "Marshall's Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 5, pages 319-338.
    7. Ocampo, José Antonio & Parra, María Angela, 2003. "The terms of trade for commodities in the twentieth century," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    8. Prebisch, Raúl, 1950. "The economic development of Latin America and its principal problems," Sede de la CEPAL en Santiago (Estudios e Investigaciones) 29973, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    9. Loraine Ronchi, 2002. "The Impact of Fair Trade on Producers and Their Organisations: A Case Study with Coocafé in Costa Rica," PRUS Working Papers 11, Poverty Research Unit at Sussex, University of Sussex.
    10. Ronchi, Loraine, 2006. "Fairtrade and market failures in agricultural commodity markets," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4011, The World Bank.
    11. Marcus Noland & Howard Pack, 2003. "Industrial Policy in an Era of Globalization: Lessons from Asia," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 358, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Florence Lachet-Touya, 2019. "Relevance of potential supply structures in frameworks involving consumer's private information: the case of fair trade," Working Papers hal-02937902, HAL.
    2. Florence TOUYA, 2019. "Relationships and Nature of Contracts in the Distribution Structure for Responsible Trade," Working Papers 2018-2019_10, CATT - UPPA - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, revised Oct 2019.
    3. Florence Lachet-Touya, 2019. "Relationships and nature of contracts in the distribution structure for responsible trade," Working papers of CATT hal-02937865, HAL.
    4. Tomomi Naka, 2013. "Generational Effects of Handicraft Fair Trade Production: A Bangladesh Case Study," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 2, October.
    5. Florence Lachet-Touya, 2019. "Relationships and nature of contracts in the distribution structure for responsible trade," Working Papers hal-02937865, HAL.
    6. Florence TOUYA, 2019. "Relevance of Potential Supply Structures in Frameworks involving Consumer's private Information: the Case of Fair Trade," Working Papers 2018-2019_12, CATT - UPPA - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, revised Aug 2019.
    7. Florence Lachet-Touya, 2019. "Relevance of potential supply structures in frameworks involving consumer's private information: the case of fair trade," Working papers of CATT hal-02937902, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dennis, Allen & Shepherd, Ben, 2007. "Trade costs, barriers to entry, and export diversification in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4368, The World Bank.
    2. Cécile Couharde & Vincent Géronimi & Armand Taranco, 2012. "Les hausses récentes des cours des matières premières traduisent-elles l'entrée dans un régime de prix plus élevés ?," Revue Tiers-Monde, Armand Colin, vol. 0(3), pages 13-34.
    3. Sawada Yasuyuki & Sugawara Shinya & Shoji Masahiro & Shinkai Naoko, 2014. "The Role of Infrastructure in Mitigating Poverty Dynamics: The Case of an Irrigation Project in Sri Lanka," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(3), pages 1-28, July.
    4. Yoshimichi Murakami & Nobuaki Hamaguchi, 2021. "Peripherality, income inequality, and economic development in Latin American countries," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(2), pages 133-148, April.
    5. José Antonio Ocampo & María Angela Parra, 2007. "The Dual Divergence: Growth Successes and Collapses in the Developing World Since 1980," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Ricardo Ffrench-Davis & José Luis Machinea (ed.), Economic Growth with Equity, chapter 4, pages 61-92, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Gonzalo Hernández, 2011. "Terms of Trade and Output Fluctuations in Colombia," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2011-04, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    7. Kazianga, Harounan & Udry, Christopher, 2006. "Consumption smoothing? Livestock, insurance and drought in rural Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 413-446, April.
    8. Mariana Mazzucato & Caetano C.R. Penna, 2016. "Beyond market failures: the market creating and shaping roles of state investment banks," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 305-326, October.
    9. Dalila NICET- CHENAF (GREThA-GRES) & Eric ROUGIER (GREThA-GRES), 2008. "Recent exports matter: export discoveries, FDI and Growth, an empirical assessment for MENA countries," Cahiers du GRES (2002-2009) 2008-17, Groupement de Recherches Economiques et Sociales.
    10. Joseph V. Balagtas & Matthew T. Holt, 2009. "The Commodity Terms of Trade, Unit Roots, and Nonlinear Alternatives: A Smooth Transition Approach," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(1), pages 87-105.
    11. Petra Dünhaupt & Hansjörg Herr, 2020. "Trade, Global Value Chains and Development: What Role for National Development Banks?," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 89(3), pages 9-33.
    12. Mesquita Moreira, Mauricio, 2007. "Fear of China: Is There a Future for Manufacturing in Latin America?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 355-376, March.
    13. Anthony J. Venables, 2006. "Shifts in economic geography and their causes," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 15-39.
    14. S. M. Shafaeddin, 2005. "Forum 2005," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 36(6), pages 1143-1162, November.
    15. Maciej Grodzicki, 2018. "Prices of Value Added and Competitiveness in Global Value Chains," SPRU Working Paper Series 2018-14, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    16. Geronimi, Vincent & Taranco, Armand, 2018. "Revisiting the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis of a secular decline in the terms of trade of primary commodities (1900–2016). A dynamic regime approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 329-339.
    17. Alberto Amurgo-Pacheco, Martha Denisse Pierola, 2007. "Patterns of export diversification in developing countries: intensive and extensive margins," IHEID Working Papers 20-2007, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies, revised Jul 2007.
    18. Mo, Pak Hung, 2011. "Trade Liberalization Sequence for Sustained Economic Growth," MPRA Paper 28917, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Arslan Ramzi, 2010. "The exchange rate, diversification, and distribution in a modified Ricardian model with a continuum of goods," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2010-06, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    20. Yasuyuki Sawada, 2007. "The impact of natural and manmade disasters on household welfare," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 37(s1), pages 59-73, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:37:y:2009:i:4:p:457-478. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CODS20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.