Question #2
Economically, who benefits when retailers in Europe and the United Sates source textiles from low-wage countries such as Bangladesh? Who might lose? Do the gains outweigh the losses? * Economically, when retailers in the U.S. and Europe source textiles from low-wage countries such as Bangladesh, many parties benefit. Some of the biggest retailers such Wal-Mart or Kmart benefit a lot by having better profit margins. Costs of goods are relatively low which allow them more room to offer lower prices in goods and services. Customers benefit from this as well because prices are lower which mean they are more affordable. Another party that benefit also is low income countries in job creation and in economic. * In contrast, developed countries find disadvantages because fewer resources cause job loss in the employment market. Even though customers are able to get these items at a cheaper price, they find disadvantages in the end quality of the product. The quality of these product decline as resources are limited. * I think the gains outweigh the losses because it allows low income countries to develop and improve their standard of living.
Question #3
What are the causes of the weak safety record of the Bangladesh garment industry? Do Western companies that import garments from Bangladesh bear any responsibility for what happened at the Rana Plaza and other workplace accidents? * I think the government is the cause of the weak safety record of the Bangladesh garment industry. The government clearly does not care too much about the safety of the factories. The industry focuses on low cost, fast production of cheap labor to compete with its competitors. Many of the employees are women who work long hours and remain the lowest paid garnish workers in the world. The government has the ability to intervene and enforce certain regulations,