the development of a market for sustainable coffee in the netherlands rethinking the contribution of fair trade in recent years researchers have observed the process of mainstreaming fair trade and the emergence of alternative sustainability standards in the coffee industry the underlying market dynamics that have contributed to these developments are however under researched insight into these dynamics is important to understand how markets can develop to favor sustainability this study examines the major developments in the market for certified coffee in the netherlands it finds that in the creation of a market for sustainable coffee decisions that significantly influence market creation are made in the lead companies retailers and coffee roasters these decisions are made possible by the availability of multiple systems of sustainability standards and by the existence of a small segment of loyal fair trade customers that ensured that sustainability remained an issue on the coffee market in the years before the market creation took off fair trade did not become the new rule in this process but it became the benchmark against which companies could compare themselves and the basis upon which they built in adopting or developing new standards that would be more feasible in their business models

valuing inputs under supply uncertainty the bayesian shapley value we consider the problem of valuing inputs in a production environment in which input supply is uncertain inputs can be workers in a firm risk factors for a disease securities in a financial market or nodes in a networked economy each input takes its values from a finite set and uncertainty is modeled as a probability distribution over this set first we provide an axiomatic solution to our valuation problem defining three intuitive axioms which we use to uniquely characterize a valuation scheme that we call the a priori shapley value second we solve the problem of valuing inputs a posteriori that is after observing output this leads to the bayesian shapley value third we consider the problem of rationalizing uncertainty when the inputs are rational workers supplying labor in a non cooperative production game in which payoffs are given by the shapley wage function we find that probability distributions over labor supply that can be supported as mixed strategy nash equilibria always exist we also provide an intuitive condition under which we prove the existence of a pure strategy nash equilibrium we present several applications of our theory to real life situations

fair trade and the depersonalization of ethics fair trade has changed considerably since its early days in this article we argue that these changes have led to a depersonalization of ethics thus raising serious questions about the future of fair trade in particular the depersonalization of ethics which is seen to accompany the current changes has led to greater variety in the interpretations of fair trade hiding these divergences behind the labels is increasing the risk that the movement will lose its credibility

fidelity networks and long run trends in hiv aids gender gaps more than half of the hiv aids infected population today are women we study a dynamic model of in fidelity which explains the hiv aids gender gap by the configuration of sexual networks each individual desires sexual relationships with opposite sex individuals two markov matching processes are defined each corresponding to a different culture of gender relations the first process leads to egalitarian pairwise stable networks in the long run and hiv aids is equally prevalent among men and women the second process leads to anti egalitarian pairwise stable networks reflecting male domination and women bear a greater burden the results are consistent with empirical observations

classroom experiments not just fun and games i introduction historically economics was the classic example of a science in which laboratory methods are impossible consistent with this view economics has traditionally been taught as a theory intensive science rather than as an experimental one however the view that economics is not a laboratory science has been changing in large part due to the increase in research conducted using experimental methods in addition as evidence of the benefits of active learning for students has been gathered leaders in the field of education have been urging faculty to actively engage students in the process of learning introducing experimental methods into the economics classroom is a natural step warranted both by the evolution of the discipline itself and the need to more actively involve students in the learning process this paper presents results from a research project examining the effectiveness of using economics experiments in the classroom the project involved designing course packages for the principles of microeconomics and principles of macroeconomics classes that integrate basic economic experiments into the curricula and then evaluating their success as a teaching tool the evaluation phase focused on assessing the impact of this curriculum on student performance student attitudes towards economics and economic knowledge retention the project was conducted over a three year period during the initial phase of the research project both the course materials and an assessment instrument for evaluating the effectiveness of those materials were developed 1 next a controlled experiment using students at the university of arkansas was conducted students who enrolled in principles of macroeconomics and principles of microeconomics courses were separated into control and treatment classes both groups were taught using a general lecture class discussion format but experiments designed to illustrate specific economic concepts were used in the treatment sections in place of the additional lecture class discussion and examples used in the control classes for those topics relative performance on the assessment instrument serves as the basis for evaluating the impact of the new curricula on student learning while controlling for other factors that might affect student performance an attitude survey was administered to the students at the beginning and at the end of the courses in both the treatment and control groups to gain insight into their attitudes towards the study of economics and whether those attitudes changed over the course of the semester 2 in addition to assessing the impact of classroom experiments on student performance and attitudes towards economics their impact on knowledge retention was also investigated students were tracked into a required advanced business course where their performance on a test of material covered in the introductory economics courses was used to evaluate the impact of classroom experiments on their retention of this material although we had no a priori expectations of what the specific outcomes from the evaluative portion would be we hypothesized that students would benefit overall from the use of experiments and that this benefit would be dispersed differentially based on student learning styles we also anticipated that we would find an improved attitude towards the study of economics and an increase in knowledge retention when experiments were implemented as active learning tools ii background in their 1985 edition of principles of economics samuelson and nordhaus argued one possible way of figuring out economic laws is by controlled experiments economists unfortunately cannot perform the controlled experiments of chemists or biologists because they cannot easily control other important factors like astronomers or meteorologists they generally must be content largely to observe

focus on fairtrade propositions for integrating fairtrade and supply chain management research driven by increased consumer interest and stakeholder pressure the number of fairtrade ft products has been steadily increasing the mainstreaming of ft means that the products are now facing stiff competition within the generic product categories in which they operate while consumers may pressure organizations for ethical conduct they are less willing to pay premium prices for fairly traded products for ft to continue to grow more efficient operating models are required to offset the premium prices paid to producers to ensure competitiveness in the market one such improvement approach may be the management of ft supply chains to investigate the feasibility of this approach this article systematically combines literature on ft with key supply chain management scm constructs and theories we discuss existing scm paradigms in the context of ft and demonstrate aspects where the efficiency of ft chains needs to be improved to ensure their viability we present propositions that demonstrate the key limitations of the ft model from the point of view of scm theory and practice and suggest the potential changes needed in the management of ft supply chains the article provides a timely first attempt to systematically combine ft with scm constructs thus establishing a basis for the further development of ft chains and for the improvement of the operating efficiency within them

gender differentiation in risk taking behavior on the relative risk aversion of single men and single women we relate an observed difference between single men sm and single women sw in attitudes towards risk to the higher value assigned to social status by sm than by sw in the marriage market low status carries a harsher penalty for sm than for sw because when selecting a partner the social status of a man is more important to a woman than the social status of a woman is to a man correlating social status with relative wealth we show how intensified distaste at experiencing low relative wealth reduces relative risk aversion

fair trade in france from individual innovators to contemporary networks fair trade aims at humanising the capitalist economy by serving the community instead of simply striving for financial profit the current fair trade sector is an excellent example of an innovation where networks based on ethical principles can help to effectively serve this market our analysis is based on 48 interviews amongst fair trade innovators in france and illustrates the advent of a new type of entrepreneur one that is grounded in the social and solidarity economy sse based on a service dominant logic these innovators aim to construct a new world centred on trade relationships by integrating the role of multiple player networks into the creation of value in the market

the fair trade movement parameters issues and future research although fair trade has been in existence for more than 40 years discussion in the business and business ethics literature of this unique trading and campaigning movement between southern producers and northern buyers and consumers has been limited this paper seeks to redress this deficit by providing a description of the characteristics of fair trade including definitional issues market size and segmentation and the key organizations it discusses fair trade from southern producer and northern trader and consumer perspectives and highlights the key issues that currently face the fair trade movement it then identifies an initial research agenda to be followed up in subsequent papers

ethical value added fair trade and the case of cafe femenino this article engages various critiques of fair trade from its participation in commodification to providing a cover for fair washing corporations and argues that fair trade has the potential to answer the challenges contained within them if and when it initiates an ongoing process of developing the ethical valued added content of the label this argument is made in a number of ways first by distinguishing between economic and human development impacts and ethics this article argues that these impacts are necessary but not sufficient conditions for ethical trade second it engages the question of the possibility of ethical practice in economics generally developing the idea that when economics is concerned with securing the material basis of a broad range of life capacities it becomes ethical third fair trade practice itself is examined from this standpoint and is conceived of as both comprising a promising ethical value added practice as well as posing a problem in its current formulation that the framework of ethical value added can help understand and resolve finally an examination of these theoretical ideas in practice is undertaken through a case study of cafe femenino a fair trade coffee produced in peru in conclusion it is argued that for fair trade to build upon its economic and human impacts and therefore remain a meaningful ethical and economic alternative to corporate capitalism and globalization it must distinguish itself clearly in ethics from those market relations it wishes explicitly or implicitly to challenge

an exploration of opportunities for the growth of the fair trade market three cases of craft organisations businesses that maintain ethical standards have an advantage in the marketplace based on the increasing interest of consumers in products that have a social and ethical component fair trade organisations that adopt environmental social and ethical principles in trading are in a good position to make the most of this growing interest in the market however it is unclear whether fair trade organisations are taking full advantage of emerging market opportunities for ethically traded products this research explores this issue by describing the business strategies of three fair trade organisations that import and sell craft goods into western countries and evaluates them in the context of this growing market the research findings indicate that in order to remain in business fair trade craft organisations have had to adopt better business practices in recent years improving quality customer service and product offerings to customers however growth appears to be limited as distribution remains focused on a small niche market this paper explores the distribution strategies of two fair trade commodity organisations that are successfully reaching a wider customer base demonstrating that fair trade products have a unique selling advantage in the mainstream marketplace in conclusion fair trade craft organisations are not exploiting this market opportunity to the degree they should and will need to explore wider distribution and alternative business strategies to expand their market share

the co operative and the corporation competing visions of the future of fair trade this paper provides an analysis of the fair trade network in the north through a comparative assessment of two distinctly different fair trade certified roasters planet bean a worker owned co operative in guelph ontario and starbucks coffee company the world s largest specialty roaster the two organizations are assessed on the basis of their distinct visions of the fair trade mission and their understandings of consumer sovereignty it is concluded that the objectives of planet bean are more compatible with the moral mission of fair trade even while the network has become increasingly dependent on the market reach of corporations like starbucks raising difficult prospects for the future of fair trade

classroom experiments is more more studies have demonstrated that classroom experiments have a positive effect on student achievement in economics courses questions remain regarding the appropriate number of experiments in the current study we attempt to determine whether more intensive use of classroom experiments is associated with greater student achievement our data contains variation in the number of experiments administered in a principles of microeconomics course we find that participation in classroom experiments has a positive but diminishing marginal benefit on students final course scores we also find that classroom experiments can bridge some achievement gaps between older and younger students between whites and minorities

fair trade three key challenges for reaching the mainstream after nearly 20 years of work by activists fair trade a movement establishing alternative trading organizations to ensure minimal returns safe working conditions and environmentally sustainable production is now gaining steam with increasing awareness and availability across a variety of products however this article addresses several major remaining challenges a a lack of agreement about what fair trade really means and how it should be certified b uneven awareness and availability across different areas with marked differences between some parts of europe and north america that reflect more fundamental debates about distribution c larger questions about the extent of the potential contribution of fair trade to development under the current system including limitations on the number and types of workers affected and the fair trade focus on commodity goods

technology improves learning in large principles of economics classes using our wits much recent innovation in teaching economics has focused on active learning strategies and on the use of technology at the same time budget realities make large lecture classes a fact of life for principles of economics courses at many universities unfortunately neither active learning strategies nor teaching with technology tend to work well in large classes active learning is difficult to facilitate with many students and learning with technology in economics has been limited for the most part to classes small enough to fit in computer labs we have developed a system that uses handheld devices and wireless technology to facilitate interactive learning in large classes by putting technology in the hands of the students during class the wireless interactive teaching system wits consists of handspring visors a hand held pda equipped with wireless capabilities a laptop server a wireless access point and projector and proprietary software this intranet uses the 802 11b wireless standard wits allows students to trade in markets play standard economics games prisoner s dilemma public goods 2 2 matrix etc take multiple choice quizzes and communicate with the instructor during class see http lshta vt edu index html for a sample exercise and instructional material we report the results of a controlled experiment to test the impact of wits facilitated active learning exercises our study differs from previous work in three important ways first use of the wits system allows us to implement experiments in larger classes than previous studies using hand run exercises second we measure learning using exam scores rather than the test of understanding in college economics tuce so that improved results are understandable in terms of students grades the metric that students and universities use to evaluate performance finally to isolate whether changes in learning are from substituting experiment based material for standard lectures or whether gains are the result of active learning the control class held parallel research days where students discussed the same experiment students in the wits class earned final grades that averaged 3 2 points higher than the control class though impact varies by gender and class level the impact on learning is highest for freshmen and women groups that often struggle with introductory economics and lowest for male seniors who in our sample tend to be engineering majors satisfying a general education requirement teaching evaluations are also significantly higher in the experimental class

what do corporations have to do with fair trade positive and normative analysis from a value chain perspective there has been tremendous growth in the sales of certified fair trade products since the introduction of the first of these goods in the netherlands in 1988 many would argue that this rapid growth has been due in large part to the increasing involvement of corporations still participation by corporations in fair trade has not been welcomed by all the basic point of contention is that while corporate participation has the potential to rapidly extend the market for fair trade goods it threatens key aspects of what many see as the original vision of fair trade most notably a primary concern for the plight of small producers and the goal of developing an alternative approach to trade and development and may even be undermining its long term survival the primary purpose of this article is to explore the normative issues involved in corporate participation in fair trade in order to do that however it first provides a positive analysis of how corporations are actually involved in fair trade in order to achieve both of these ends the article draws upon global value chain analysis

mainstreaming fair trade coffee from partnership to traceability summary this article analyzes the recent growth of fair trade and the mainstreaming of this previously alternative arena focusing on coffee i identify a continuum of buyers ranging from mission driven enterprises that uphold alternative ideas and practices based on social ecological and place based commitments to quality driven firms that selectively foster fair trade conventions to ensure reliable supplies of excellent coffee to market driven corporations that largely pursue commercial industrial conventions rooted in price competition and product regulation using a commodity network approach my analysis illuminates the impacts of diverse buyer relations on producer groups and how relations are in some cases shifting from partnership to traceability

the institutionalization of fair trade more than just a degraded form of social action the context of economic globalization has contributed to the emergence of a new form of social action which has spread into the economic sphere in the form of the new social economic movements the emblematic figure of this new generation of social movements is fair trade which influences the economy towards political or social ends having emerged from multiple alternative trade practices fair trade has gradually become institutionalized since the professionalization of world shops the arrival of fair trade products in the food industry and the establishment of an official fair trade label with the strength that this institutionalization has generated fair trade can now be considered a real trade system that questions as much as it renews the traditional economic system in parallel this transformation has exacerbated the tensions within the movement which can be characterized as a clash between a radical militant pole and a softer more commercial one however it is not the actual institutionalization of fair trade which is being debated among fair trade actors on either side of the fence but rather the challenges inherent in finding an economic institutionalization acceptable to social economic movements therefore the institutionalization process of fair trade should not be seen as mere degradation of social action but rather as typical of the institutionalization process of new social economic movements if we need to worry about the highjacking and alteration of the fair trade movement by the dominant economic system the opposite is no less likely as new social economic movements contribute to an ethical restructuring of markets

a gendered value chain approach to codes of conduct in african horticulture codes of conduct covering the employment conditions of southern producers exporting to european markets mushroomed throughout the 1990s especially in the horticulture sector linking uk and european supermarkets with export firms in africa the majority of employment in this sector is informal a significant proportion of which is female this paper explores the gender sensitivity of codes currently applied in the african export horticulture sector from an analytical perspective that combines global value chain and gendered economy approaches through an analysis of these two approaches it develops a gender pyramid which provides a framework for mapping and assessing the gender content of codes of conduct the pyramid is applied to codes that cover employment conditions in three commodity groups and countries exporting to european markets south african fruit kenyan flowers and zambian vegetables and flowers it concludes that the gender sensitivity of codes needs to be greatly enhanced if they are to adequately address employment conditions relevant to informal and especially women workers

standards as a new form of social contract sustainability initiatives in the coffee industry abstract in the former age of national capitalism the achievement of market fairness was embedded in a normative framework generated by government labor unions and perhaps religious authority in the current age of global capitalism new actors such as ngos industry associations and public private partnerships provide the normative framework that corporations use for social legitimacy in this context standard setting processes operate as new forms of social contract where the state rather than being directly involved between the parties provides a form of basic guarantee while more or less accountable ngos and firms are in charge of hammering out the bargains this article examines the dynamics of this new configuration through the case study of sustainability initiatives in the coffee sector it addresses four questions 1 are these standards effective in communicating information and creating new markets 2 to what extent do they embed elements of collective and private interests 3 is sustainability content actually delivered to their intended beneficiaries and 4 what is the role of public policy in addressing their shortcomings