A blog by Jonathan Conning of the Economics Department at Hunter College of the City University of New York. This blog comes back to life when I happen to be teaching a course on trade and/or development but at other times may lay dormant.
Help the World’s Poor: Buy Some New Clothes : "Back to school shopping leads many people to buy apparel that was made in sweatshops. Rather than feel guilty for “exploiting” poor workers, shoppers should rejoice. Their spending is some of the best aid we can give to people in poorer countries." So says Benjamin Powell on the always provocative AidWatch blog. Liberal New York Times columnist and Economics Nobel Prize international economist Paul Krugman wrote an earlier and now often cited statement along similar lines titled " In Praise of Cheap Labor: Bad jobs at bad wages are better than no jobs at all ." Do you agree with these arguments?
I know this may be hard for some of you to believe but before Paul Krugman was writing for the New York Times and outraging Bush administration supporters, he was writing for Slate and other publications and ridiculing Clinton administration officials for their 'dangerous obsession' with 'competitiveness' and their 'strangely careless arithmetic.' He was also known for challenging anti-globalization protesters for 'not thinking their position through.' His piece " In Praise of Cheap Labor Bad jobs at bad wages are better than no jobs at all " which appeared in Slate - Dismal Scientist - March 20, 1997 compactly sums up his position on this last point. This piece is on the Eco 340 reading list but I wanted to post it here for those of you in Eco 740 who might be interested, and to open up a space for discussion. Here's a choice excerpt: .... moral outrage is common among the opponents of globalization--of the transfer of technology and ca...
I've posted problem set 1 (due Oct 10th) to Blackboard course documents section. Fixed link: A web link to one of tonight's external readings, Jeffrey Williamson's Globalization, Labor Markets and Policy Backlash from the Past , had not been working, but now it is. See if you can interpret his empirical findings on convergence and changes in income distribution using the Specific Factors Model we were working with last class (but applied to international rather than intra-national labor mobility).
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