...Sustainable Coffee Certifications Enough to Secure Farmer Livelihoods? The Millenium Development Goals and Nicaragua’s Fair Trade Cooperatives ´ ´ CHRISTOPHER M. BACONÃ , V. ERNESTO MENDEZÃÃ , MARIA ´ EUGENIA FLORES GOMEZÃÃÃ , DOUGLAS STUARTÃÃÃÃ , & SANDRO ´ ´ RAUL DIAZ FLORESÃÃÃÃÃ Ã University of California, Santa Cruz, USA University of Vermont, USA ÃÃÃ ´ Asociacion de Mujeres Contra La Violencia, Oyanka, Jalapa, Nicaragua ÃÃÃÃ Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicaragua, Nicaragua ÃÃÃÃÃ ´ ´ CII-ASDENIC, Edificio Casa Estelı, Estelı, Nicaragua ÃÃ ABSTRACT In December 2001, green coffee commodity prices hit a 30-year low. This deepened the livelihood crisis for millions of coffee farmers and rural communities. The specialty coffee industry responded by scaling up several sustainable coffee certification programs, including Fair Trade. This study uses household- and community-level research conducted in Nicaragua from 2000 to 2006 to assess the response to the post-1999 coffee crisis. A participatory action research team surveyed 177 households selling into conventional and Fair Trade markets in 2006. In an effort to dialogue with specialty coffee industry and mainstream development agencies, results are framed within the context of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Findings suggest that households connected to Fair Trade cooperatives experienced several positive impacts in education, infrastructure investment, and monetary savings...
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...Independent Institute Working Paper Number 53 September 27, 2004 100 Swan Way, Oakland, CA 94621-1428 • 510-632-1366 • Fax: 510-568-6040 • Email: info@independent.org • http://www.independent.org Sweatshops and Third World Living Standards: Are the Jobs Worth the Sweat? Benjamin Powell and David Skarbek• Department of Economics San Jose State University San Jose, CA 95192-0114 benjamin.powell@sjsu.edu ABSTRACT Many studies have shown that multinational firms pay more than domestic firms in Third World countries. Economists critical of sweatshops have responded that multinational firms’ wage data do not address whether sweatshop jobs are above average because many of these jobs are with domestic subcontractors. In this paper we compare apparel industry wages and the wages of individual firms accused of being sweatshops to measures of the standard of living in Third World economies. We find that most sweatshop jobs provide an above average standard of living for their workers. Benjamin Powell is an Assistant Professor of Economics at San Jose State University and the Director of the Center for the Study of Entrepreneurial Innovation at the Independent Institute. David Skarbek is an economics major at San Jose State University and intern at the Independent Institute. The authors thank Jeffery Hummel, Charles Murray, Larry Pratt and Edward Stringham for helpful comments on earlier drafts. Financial support from the American Institute for Economic Research is gratefully acknowledged...
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...Research project: The relationship between: the annual growth rate of GDP per capita and the public expenditure in Latin America. F29 F33 F43 O19 My goal for this research project is to examine the relationships that exists in between the annual growth rate per capita and public expenditure in Latin America. What I wanted to see is if a higher growth rate of GDP meant that a higher percentage was spent in the public sector. Data was gathered from the ECLAC, The World Bank and also the International Monetary Fund. Introduction The reason I was very attracted in this research is because as someone born in South America and lately Latin America has been doing better than before, and visiting South America the past year I have seen how infrastructure has improved lately so I was very interested in seeing how big of a role public expenditure plays in countries that are developing. Expenditure on welfare, health and education are an essential part of what governments do to enhance the quality of life of their citizens and the human capital base of their societies. My focus on public and social expenditure in Latin America is mainly guided by the concern of how Governments utilizes existing policies and seeing how these theories and policies have helped increase Latin America’s GDP. In Latin America we find a great variation in social policy regimes; ranging from Uruguay and Argentina, where a large majority of the population is covered by social policy and has decent...
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...The Free Trade Area of the Americas logo The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) (Spanish: Área de Libre Comercio de América [ALCA], French: Zone de libre-échange de Amérique [ZLÉA],Portuguese: Área de Livre Comércio das Américas [ALCA], Dutch: Vrijhandelszone van Amerika) was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among all countries in the Americas excluding Cuba. In the latest round of negotiations, trade ministers from 34 countries met in Miami, United States, in November 2003 to discuss the proposal.[1] The proposed agreement was an extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Opposing the proposal were Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Dominica, Nicaragua and Honduras (all of which entered theBolivarian Alternative for the Americas in response), and Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Discussions have faltered over similar points as the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks; developed nations seek expanded trade inservices and increased intellectual property rights, while less developed nations seek an end to agricultural subsidies and free trade in agricultural goods. Similar to the WTO talks, Brazil has taken a leadership role among the less developed nations, while the United States has taken a similar role for the developed nations. Free Trade Area of the Americas began with the Summit of the Americas in Miami on December 11, 1994, but the FTAA came to public attention...
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...Fairtrade and the impact on farmers’ lives Abstract Fairtrade is an organisation with the aim of improving the livelihoods of farmers from developing countries in order to support equality among people. The business is however often in the critique for procedures that are either not helpful for their farmers or even harm the market as a whole. This paper aims at analysing the Fairtrade standards as well as evidence from the literature with regard to the actual impact of the system. The results show that the standards set by Fairtrade are actually fair for their farmers, however a lack of transparency and traceability hinders their proper implementation. Furthermore, Fairtrade standards appear to have even negative effects on farmers that are not part of their organisation caused by rough price competitions as well as on the society as a whole since it hinders an autonomous development of the poor nations. Key Words: Fair Trade, Standards, Developing countries, Livelihood 1 1. Introduction The rising globalization has brought a lot of opportunities to developing countries since their agricultural products can now easily be purchased from all over the world. Due to poor economic, social and political conditions, their producers are however often underpaid and treated badly, while major corporations make the most profit out of it. While moral concerns about the origin of products are arising more and more within the last centuries in the western world, the...
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...“ADDING VALUE TO NICARAGUAN FORESTRY” ASSET RICH BUT CAPITAL POOR! VALERIA ZELAYA Background During the 70’s and 80’s, Nicaragua suffered from civil and political unrest. In 1990, the country had its first democratic elections in 30 years, which lead to a process of slow political depolarization, and economic recovery. Nicaragua’s Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) is the largest block of tropical forest in Central America and a key source of high value timber for local and international markets. Land classified as suitable for forestry usage occupies about 6.2 million hectares; divided as 1.8 million ha for conservation and 4.4 million ha for sustainable use1. Despite this endowment, Nicaragua’s annual wood exports are only US$15M2, representing 1.75% of Nicaragua’s total export. From these exports, 95% is unprocessed wood and 5% is manufactured goods, indicating a feeble commercialization of value-added wood products. Other neighboring countries with less forest area and potential have much greater export income from wood products. Additionally, private sector investment is limited and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the wood sector have difficulty in accessing legal and certified raw material creating inefficiencies in the wood value chain due to a lack of integration and coordination of the value chain. The LAC Facility identified the wood sector as one of the potential sectors for growth due to the availability of hardwood species and a significant number...
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...Eric Quetschke HST 480 Research Paper During the nineteenth century the United States was growing its empire through economics, politics, and military actions. The first step in growing their empire was to limit the actions of European countries. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 asserted the United State’s position by warning European powers against any further attempts to colonize lands in the Western Hemisphere. The American continents are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power. With the economic growth of Latin America and the Pacific the United States began to see the need for a more efficient and secure route to the east coast. The Isthmus of Panama was identified as that route and...
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...The one organization that is included does not have a descry[tion of the pros and cons of the corporation, and this lead me to believe that the organizations do nothing to impact the condition these workers face. I'm thinking there needs to be a stop to this, but after some follow up general research it shows there are lenient human rights laws set in place for third world countries (). The article also included actual situations that the writer experienced when he traveled to countries to obtain information for his paper, which becomes helpful for when people decide to deny his data. Ways people would deny his data is to question what human rights there actually are in these third world countries, and question if there is any government then why they would allow this to happen. Zamora (2013) states it clearly that people aren’t okay with these actions, but companies are doing nothing to positively influence them to...
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...Reagan Analysis Paper Reagan Analysis Paper Introduction Ronald Wilson Reagan was the fortieth president of the United States. A two term president, he served from 1981-1989. President Reagan won a landslide victory over Jimmy Carter running on a political platform consisting of jump starting the economy and bringing inflation down. This was to be accomplished through lowering taxes and cutting government spending. Many people consider Reagan an outstanding president but this paper contends he was an overrated president. This is based on the management of three issues facing his presidency. These are: economic policies, ending the Cold War, and the Iran-Contra affair. Economic Policies Throughout Reagan’s campaign he assaulted the Carter administration’s free-spending (Moss & Thomas, 2013, pp-208-210). He made promises to cut spending, but ultimately spent more. The most common misconception is that Reagan saved our economy with his famous Reaganomics. This of course included the modern trickle-down theory or supply-side economics, which included major tax decreases, specifically on the wealthy. These tax decreases, coupled with high military spending, created a massive debt and led the country into one of the worst depressions since the Great Depression. When Reagan entered the presidency in 1981 the national debt was at $900 billion. By the time he left it had over tripled to $2.8 trillion. To top it off, many of the military projects the money was used...
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...Should The Voting Age Be Reduced In US? [Student’s Name] Institution This paper intends to explore the advantages and limitations of lowering voting age in US. It entails an internet conducted research from journals and articles that expound this topic. Voting is a crucial human right. It gives young, old men and women to control in the way they are governed. An election helps to give the overview of our democracy. In countries such as UK has established commissions such as The Youth Citizenship commission to ensure that young people are reengaged in political process. In order to support the motion , mostly in federal elections the youth aged 18-24 years do not vote thus need to advocate for lowering of the voting age from 21 years to at least 18 years so that to engage youth in politics. Engaging youth in politics through allowing them to vote when they are as young as eighteen years could encourage them to serving citizens. This also could help in making politicians be accountable young voters as the count for their success. In addition many nations have lowered the voting age such as Brazil and Nicaragua and have experienced advantages of lower voting without any limitations. Local and state government’s decision affect young people thus it is important to help them have a voice over these decisions. This can only be enhanced through giving them the right to vote for their leaders. Since youth below the age of 18 years work and they are taxed...
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...unique regime to attract and allocate FDI efficiently. Despite having little natural endowments and regional advantages, Costa Rica has ever since been the economic vanguard among the Latin America community for the last past half decade, with remarkable level of development within knowledge-intensive industries. Furthermore, the country’s early acceptance and adoption of various trade liberalization schemes have created a destination that a number of economists have been referring as ‘investment haven’ for exported products and services. The case of Costa Rica, henceforth, is exemplary for developing countries, not only in regard to attracting pure FDI, but also supervising its spillover effects as a means to stimulate the economy. This paper does not quantify in detail the effects, but rather focuses on a sweeping analysis on Costa Rica’s political historical and possible future approaches in FDI facilitation and administration. I. Introduction In term of historical economic development, Costa Rica started off as any third-world countries, being a major exporter of agriculture products, namely bananas, coffee and sugar. Following a period of internal turbulences and civil wars up until the end of 1940’s, Costa Rica exerted its effort on...
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...CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFERS A World Bank Policy Research Report CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFERS REDUCING PRESENT AND FUTURE POVERTY Ariel Fiszbein and Norbert Schady with Francisco H.G. Ferreira, Margaret Grosh, Nial Kelleher, Pedro Olinto, and Emmanuel Skoufias ©2009 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org E-mail: feedback@worldbank.org All rights reserved 1 2 3 4 5 12 11 10 09 This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this volume do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgement on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank encourages dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission to reproduce portions...
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...complicated view where economic self-interest on one side and national pride on the other may undermine traditional conceptions of recognition. Using the ROC-PRC diplomatic battle as a case study, this paper hopes to shed light on two questions: why, despite the PRC's rise as a global power, a country would continue to formally recognize the ROC and secondly what does the ROC receive in exchange for such high-cost endeavors to maintain recognition. In this case mutual ideological rationales have greatly diminished while I contend that economic factors have predominantly maintained this diplomatic battle. In addition, previous research often focuses on major world powers granting or withholding formal recognition to smaller states. In this situation, poor countries with typically little political influence are the major players, suggesting different rationales behind recognition. Methodologically, this paper blends qualitative and quantitative analysis to uncover factors affecting recogni- T IMOTHY S. RICH is a doctoral student in political science at the Indiana University. His previous rese arch analyzed Taiwan's democratization and cross-Strait relations. His dissertation analyzes electoral reform in East Asia . In 2009, Timothy received a National Science Foundation grant to conduct research in Taiwan regarding recent electoral reforms. The author can be reached at . ©...
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...agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private...
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...commitment is genuine, but that it is not a first order goal: poverty reduction is an intended consequence of its principal objective, the transformation of social and governmental relations and institutions in the developing world in order to generalize and facilitate capitalist accumulation on a global scale, and build capitalist hegemony through the promotion of tightly controlled forms of 'participation' and 'ownership'. This objective has been pursued consistently since the mid -1990s, with Wolfensohn as Director and Stiglitz while Chief Economist playing leading roles. It has been reflected in particular in the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) Initiative, the Comprehensive Development Framework, and PRSPs (Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers) as means of governing low-income countries. Once the character of the project is understood, its limitations and contradictions become apparent, but at the same time many of the criticisms advanced are seen to underestimate its logic and coherence, and proposals for reform arising from them are shown to be naïve. INTRODUCTION In 1996 the IMF and the World Bank introduced the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) Debt Initiative, a programme aimed to provide debt relief against country commitments to reduce poverty and pursue economic reform. Since then poverty reduction has taken centre stage at the World Bank in particular. The central role accorded to it was institutionalized with the announcement of the Comprehensive...
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