That’s Not Fair; Neither Is It Delicious
Coffee-wrangler and, unless I’ve lost track, libertarian Jacob Grier makes a qualified defense of attacks against “fair trade,” specifically fair-trade coffee. It’s an intriguing argument: if there’s a missing piece, it’s how much of the higher price of non-FT premium beans reaches all the way to “the workers” – that is, the small farmers and hands as opposed to large landlords and brokers. I figure there’s a fact of the matter here; I just don’t know what it is. Perhaps Jacob could address the issue in a follow-up.
Comment by Thoreau —
April 14, 2010 @ 11:14 am
That’s a good post. While I’m not ardent about buying fair trade (largely because I suspect he’s right) to play, um, contrarian, there’s a good information argument in favor of fair trade: Grier acknowledges that fair trade is often better than a lot of the brands out there, even if it isn’t as good as the absolute best. A person who isn’t as into coffee as him, and wants to make a “pretty good” choice without going through all the research and spending all the money needed to make the best choice, might just say “Eh, I know fair trade is better than a lot, and I don’t know which uber-expensive niche brand is even better still.”
This isn’t so much about libertarianism or hippies or markets or coffee. It’s more about geeks and enthusiasts. Whenever you do something or buy something, there’s always a geek, as in a person who is totally into a particular topic, who can explain that there was something even better, if only you were willing to go through a lot of effort. Yeah, probably, but at some point I just want to make my purchase and go home. In an ideal world I’d research each and everything I do, but at some point I need to put the socks on so I can begin the shoe research. And then I have to walk those shoes across a carpet. And I can only do so much carpet research before I reach the other end and make my coffee. And eat some cereal. And walk out the door. (Did I get the best possible insulation?) And so forth.
Comment by Jacob Grier —
April 14, 2010 @ 12:58 pm
Jim, that’s a fair point. The coffee on these farms is often picked by seasonal workers and as a consumer there’s no easy way of knowing how much of the higher price is tricking down to them. That’s one reason why Fair Trade insists that its growers operate on a co-op model.
But! Buying Fair Trade doesn’t necessarily solve this problem. The money there doesn’t go directly to workers either, it goes to co-ops. If the leadership of a co-op happens to be corrupt or incompetent, the workers aren’t getting the full value of their crops either. Complaints about this sort of thing are why many roasters have moved away from Fair Trade.
So there’s no easy answer to which is better in all cases. My own inclination is to go with the Direct Trade model because it’s often the most transparent and that’s where the best quality is. Also, keeping long-term development in mind, I’m skeptical that forcing coffee growers into a small farm, co-op model is the best way to help them.
Comment by Jacob Grier —
April 14, 2010 @ 1:00 pm
Also, you’re right that I’m still a libertarian, but I’m more of a booze wrangler than a coffee wrangler these days. I didn’t have the qualifications to be a barista in Portland (i.e. multiple tattoos and a rich mane of facial hair).
Comment by stephen —
April 15, 2010 @ 7:50 am
To borrow from Robin Hanson, I think the biggest reason libertarians don’t like free trade coffee (and why progressives do) has more to do with signaling and group status.
Regardless of the efficacy of the practice, my decision to buy or not is statistically insignificant, much like my decision to vote for whom ever. What really matters, though I am not aware of my motives, is that I signal which team I am affiliated with. every time a libertarian endorses a progressive idea team prog. wins a status point and the opposite is true when a progressive rejects one.
Its nice to think that our beliefs and motives are high minded, motivated by truth, justice, and the American way, or whatever, but mostly we care about the our status and therefore the status of our group.
As always, sorry if I am totally full of it.
Comment by dhex —
April 15, 2010 @ 8:07 am
the sports bar is omnipresent, even if it’s only selling coffee.
Comment by Jordan Cartilla —
April 15, 2010 @ 9:49 am
In the early 19th century there was a great craze to replace slave made sugar with sugar produced by sap (James Fenimore Cooper’s father was part of promoting such trade). It did not lead to a change. I see fair trade coffee in the same light; nice idea; likely won’t work in practice.
The best things for DC farmers are ending bad trade regulations in the West and for more DC farmers to stop farming. Does that mean that fair trade products is a second best alternative to such? If it leads to many new market entrants and overproduction I don’t think so.
Comment by Eric the .5b —
April 15, 2010 @ 5:27 pm
I dunno. There are certainly people I’d consider libertarians who knee-jerk against innocuous things that strike them as signaling by Blues.
Fair trade coffee just hasn’t been on my radar of topics-libertarians-talk-about aside from a rare critique along the lines of that post.