Fair trade
Richardson, Martin; Stähler, Frank

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Richardson, M., & Stähler, F. (2007). Fair trade (Economics Discussion Papers Series No. 709). University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/1099
Permanent link to OUR Archive version:
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/1099
Abstract:
This paper deals with the behavior of fair trade organizations in an oligopolistic setting in which the vertically integrated fair trade firm produces a commodity which is a weak substitute for another commodity.Profit-maximizing oligopolists are vertically disintegrated and produce for both markets and the fair trade firm can charge a premium to consumers due to a “warm glow effect” that depends on the wage paid to fair trade producers. We show that trade integration will unambiguously increase thesize of the fair trade firm. However, the relative size compared to oligopolists shrinks with integration. The effect of a change in substitutability between the two commodities on markets shares depends on the relative market potential. Furthermore, we show that the warm glow effect does not support an expansion of the volume of fair trade.JEL-Classification: F12.
Date:
2007-07
Publisher:
University of Otago
Pages:
37
Series number:
709
Keywords:
Fair trade; integration; Imperfect Competition
Research Type:
Discussion Paper
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