Fairer trade
Economists frequently aspire to an ideal of “free trade”, with minimal government intervention and an absence of distortions in the marketplace. However, the free market has shortcomings that are easy to airbrush, or overlook, including the fact that its benefits are distributed unequally.
The history of modern free trade is bound up with colonialism. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, European powers carved up much of the rest of the world, with economic self-interest being a primary agenda. Commodities were often grown by the native people in plantations, often in grim conditions and supplanting subsistence food crops. Slaves were widely traded and used for labour.
Today, conditions have improved but we are still experiencing a hangover from colonial times. In some industries, such as cocoa production, slavery still exists. An imbalanced power relationship between the corporate sector and small farmers in developing countries results in farmers lacking bargaining muscle and often getting an exploitative raw deal. Often there is no money to send children to school or to afford healthcare.
From the retail price of a chocolate bar, cacao producers in West Africa receive about 6 per cent (down from about 16 per cent in the late 1980s), while chocolate giants
