The Cato Institute, Michael McConnell, and I filed an amicus brief in litigation challenging Trump’s massive Section 301 tariffs, which use “forced labor” as a pretext for sweeping protectionism.
Our New Amicus Brief in the Section 301 Tariff Case
Our New Amicus Brief in the Section 301 Tariff Case
15 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in international economics, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: child labour, free trade, tarrifs
Ethical Supply of electric cars: The Search for Cobalt Beyond the Congo
25 Oct 2020 Leave a comment
in development economics, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth disasters, labour economics, labour supply Tags: child labour, electric cars
Tesla’s Battery Supply Problem
25 Oct 2020 Leave a comment
in defence economics, development economics, economics of crime, energy economics, growth disasters, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: child labour
Sweatshops Are a Dream when your children live in a Dante-like vision of hell
05 Aug 2019 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, labour economics, labour supply Tags: Cambodia, child labour, extreme poverty, The fatal conceit
From “Where Sweatshops Are a Dream” https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15kristof.html
Paul Krugman on virtue signaling over sweatshop labour in export industries in poor countries
21 Jul 2019 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, labour economics, labour supply, Public Choice Tags: child labour, The Great Escape
Child Labor Was Wiped Out by Markets, Not Government
18 Mar 2019 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, labour economics, labour supply Tags: child labour, The Great Escape
Woke left condemns little chimney sweep boy (one of the Worst Jobs in History) as racist! Child labour victim had no champions on the left
05 Feb 2019 Leave a comment
in economic history, labour economics, movies Tags: child labour, political correctness, virtue signaling
Unions and do-gooders claim the credit for ending child labour
18 Nov 2018 Leave a comment
in economic history, labour economics, labour supply, poverty and inequality Tags: child labour, economics of advertising, The Great Enrichment
5 Worst Jobs Given To Children In History
05 Oct 2018 Leave a comment
in economic history, health and safety, labour economics Tags: child labour
Chimney Sweep / Climbing Boy (Worst Jobs in History)
31 Jul 2018 Leave a comment
in economic history, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: child labour, industrial revolution
Is banning child labor really the right solution for countries like Bangladesh?
18 Mar 2018 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics Tags: child labour
Does Child Labor Help Children in Poverty?
12 Jun 2016 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply Tags: child labour
Nicholas Kristof – Where Sweatshops Are a Dream
20 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, international economic law Tags: child labour, developing countries, Labour standards, neocolonialism
Before Barack Obama and his team act on their talk about “labor standards,” I’d like to offer them a tour of the vast garbage dump here in Phnom Penh.
This is a Dante-like vision of hell. It’s a mountain of festering refuse, a half-hour hike across, emitting clouds of smoke from subterranean fires. The miasma of toxic stink leaves you gasping, breezes batter you with filth, and even the rats look forlorn.
Then the smoke parts and you come across a child ambling barefoot, searching for old plastic cups that recyclers will buy for five cents a pound. Many families actually live in shacks on this smoking garbage.
Mr. Obama and the Democrats who favor labor standards in trade agreements mean well, for they intend to fight back at oppressive sweatshops abroad.
But while it shocks Americans to hear it, the central challenge in the poorest countries is not that sweatshops exploit too many people, but that they don’t exploit enough.
Talk to these families in the dump, and a job in a sweatshop is a cherished dream, an escalator out of poverty, the kind of gauzy if probably unrealistic ambition that parents everywhere often have for their children.
via Op-Ed Columnist – Where Sweatshops Are a Dream – NYTimes.com.
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