Is ‘fair trade’ more fair or more just than free trade? While free trade has been increasingly maligned, The Fair Trade movement has become increasingly popular over the last several years. Many see this movement as a way to help people in the developing world and as a more just alternative to free trade. On the other hand, others argue that fair trade creates an unfair advantage that tends to harm the poor.
Dr. Victor Claar addresses this question in his popular lecture Fair Trade vs. Free Trade. In the AU Online session scheduled for Wednesday, May 9 at 6:00pm ET, Dr. Claar will lead us through an analysis and comparison of arguments for and against both fair trade and free trade. Visit the AU Online website to register.
If you want to familiarize yourself with Dr. Claar’s response to the fair trade vs. free trade question before attending the lecture on May 9, then you’re in luck! Dr. Claar is a professor of economics at Henderson State University and a frequent Acton lecturer. Most important for this discussion, though, is his most recent monograph, Fair Trade? Its Prospects as a Poverty Solution, which is a part of Acton’s Christian Social Thought Series. Dr. Claar is also coauthor of Economics in Christian Perspective: Theory, Policy and Life Choices and has written articles for Applied Economics, Public Finance Review and the Journal of Markets & Morality, among others
