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We will fund super polluting slave labor if the difference to the manufacturers is $1.25 vs $1.65 per unit in costs, but the manufacturers charge us $5 for the

by mapt 2y ago

We will fund super polluting slave labor if the difference to the manufacturers is $1.25 vs $1.65 per unit in costs, but the manufacturers charge us $5 for the unethical unit and $20 for the ethical unit. That's not to say we wouldn't spend $5.40 for entirely ethical production; We are not granted that choice. In a wildly unregulated market with little oversight, establishing the chain to demonstrate ethical viability is expensive, and only people who have a lot of income and spare time can afford to even be worried about this. Right now, ethical production in many areas of world trade is dominated by a fringe marketting strategy to price-segregate customers, because nobody has even tried to regulate a better outcome. Expecting people to spend many hours studying every single thing they consume for signs of malfeasance, especially when most of the data they would require is a trade secret or things which manufacturers are actively incentivized to lie about, is crazy. This information black hole provides a second limit to effective pricing.

datavirtue 2y ago
The higher priced goods are going to move slower. The $20 price tag reflects the higher quality packaging (to reinforce the message that THIS is better quality) and targeting of higher spending customers, the higher price to the retailer, and the amount of time it has to sit on the shelf. Turnover is king as all retailers and manufacturers are sensitive to holding products. Warehousing has a steep cost.
- mapt 2y ago
  * European double-pane sash windows: Effectively banned by various regulations * American double-pane sash windows on hardware store shelf: $100 * European triple-pane tilt turn windows, on hardware store shelf: $200 * American triple-pane tilt turn windows, 'call for quote': $900 ... * No Salt Added Snacks in the health food section for 10% of people: $4 * Lots of Salt Added Snacks in the main section for 30% of people: $2 * The 60% of people who would prefer a moderate amount of salt for $2: Not a part of the Nash Equilibrium There are all sorts of areas where the market offers suboptimal choices because consumer pricing, availability, product segmentation, and market segmentation is a game that is somewhat orthogonal to the range of consumers' ideal outcomes. Sometimes, regulation significantly improves those outcomes in a way that prices cannot. Banning slave labor is one example where it would be a significant benefit for a trivial cost, but the market absolutely isn't structured to pay that cost using higher prices. Externalities not paid by consumer or manufacturer is one category of those benefits to examine, but there are many more.
lazide 2y ago
I would add there is also a prisoners dilemma in any attempt to regulate to ‘good’ labor practices/rates in the global economy. There are, for many clear domestic socio-political reasons (including highly embedded religious and idealogical ones), many countries which are never going to be effectively limited in their untrained labor force, or that have the ability/interest to enforce good labor practices. And there are too many ‘buying’ nations to effectively enforce a Monopsony either.

by mapt 2y ago

datavirtue 2y ago

The higher priced goods are going to move slower. The $20 price tag reflects the higher quality packaging (to reinforce the message that THIS is better quality) and targeting of higher spending customers, the higher price to the retailer, and the amount of time it has to sit on the shelf. Turnover is king as all retailers and manufacturers are sensitive to holding products. Warehousing has a steep cost.

mapt 2y ago
* European double-pane sash windows: Effectively banned by various regulations * American double-pane sash windows on hardware store shelf: $100 * European triple-pane tilt turn windows, on hardware store shelf: $200 * American triple-pane tilt turn windows, 'call for quote': $900 ... * No Salt Added Snacks in the health food section for 10% of people: $4 * Lots of Salt Added Snacks in the main section for 30% of people: $2 * The 60% of people who would prefer a moderate amount of salt for $2: Not a part of the Nash Equilibrium There are all sorts of areas where the market offers suboptimal choices because consumer pricing, availability, product segmentation, and market segmentation is a game that is somewhat orthogonal to the range of consumers' ideal outcomes. Sometimes, regulation significantly improves those outcomes in a way that prices cannot. Banning slave labor is one example where it would be a significant benefit for a trivial cost, but the market absolutely isn't structured to pay that cost using higher prices. Externalities not paid by consumer or manufacturer is one category of those benefits to examine, but there are many more.

lazide 2y ago

I would add there is also a prisoners dilemma in any attempt to regulate to ‘good’ labor practices/rates in the global economy. There are, for many clear domestic socio-political reasons (including highly embedded religious and idealogical ones), many countries which are never going to be effectively limited in their untrained labor force, or that have the ability/interest to enforce good labor practices. And there are too many ‘buying’ nations to effectively enforce a Monopsony either.