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There are many examples of third-party certifications that allow consumers to make more ethical product choices by outsourcing all the interpretation and verifi
by kalleboo 7y ago
There are many examples of third-party certifications that allow consumers to make more ethical product choices by outsourcing all the interpretation and verification to an independent organization - see Fairtrade, UTZ, FSC, MSC, various organic certification schemes, etc.
But in the end most consumers just choose the cheapest thing, or these schemes would the norm rather than exceptions.
- codebje 7y agoThe existence of these bodies reduces the scope of the problem to merely one of first identifying an appropriate organisation that certifies the product type in question, and then ensuring the organisation is legitimate. Do you think it's easier for a consumer to discover and vet certification organisations than it is for them to discover and vet transportation organisations? The price signal you mention is the strongest one, which is why pigovian taxes are often the most effective approach to tackling negative externalities. It's a good example of the sort of government regulation that is many orders of magnitude more effective than individual action.