Fairtrade and Information About Working Conditions: is There a Role for Public Policy?

In the last decades, there has been a strong growth in private voluntary initiatives, such as Fairtrade labelling and company codes of conduct, aiming at improving conditions for workers and producers in developing countries. This book looks closer at how consumers can find and verify information about working conditions in the production of the goods they consume. Despite the many voluntary initiatives, the book argues that in many cases, consumers lack adequate information on the basis of which to make such choices. This means that there is a market failure in the provision of information about working conditions, which could justify public policy. The book considers three types of policy intervention: Public provision of information, public regulation of labour standards through trade policy, and the public sector's actions in the marketplace, e.g. through public procurement and public investment. The book surveys existing public policy in these areas, and briefly discusses their effects and the relationships between them. The book aims at providing a basis for future research, and may also be of use to policy-makers.