More on Bangladeash, Rivoli and institutions

http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/02/viewpoint-on-bangladesh-disaster-its-not-all-about-the-west/

Yesterday I referenced Petro's book, The Travels of a T Shirt. She makes a very key point in this Time article:

Many North American and European human-rights groups and labor activists claim that the Western companies who send their production overseas should be held responsible for this disaster, as their relentless demand for cheaper and faster fashion squeezes powerless Asian suppliers. In this scenario, Western consumers also bear some responsibility by buying the garments that support these poor labor conditions.

But Western sourcing practices are not the main factor here. While Western activists protested outside the Gap headquarters in San Francisco last week (Gap’s spokesperson says the company did not have ties to the collapsed factories), in Bangladesh thousands of garment workers also took to the streets and were met by police spraying rubber bullets and teargas. These Bangladeshi protesters were not directing their outrage at the Western brands or cost-conscious consumers, but at their own failed network of governance.

Thus the importance and challenge of institutions, the thesis of Douglass North's difficult but important book - Understanding the Process of Economic Change.

Pakistan’s Tipping Point

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-upcoming-pakistani-election-and-the-country-s-political-fate-by-shahid-javed-burki

My son asked me the other night about the tragedy in Bangladesh and the "responsibility" of Wal Mart and other multinationals that had offshored to this low cost country. His question took me back to Douglass North and the significance of institutions in development and transition.

An accessible analysis of this question is embedded in The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade.

"Globalization is a hot-button topic that generates strong feelings along with images of boarded-up, independent businesses in America and exploitative sweatshops overseas. But what exactly is it? In The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, Georgetown University business professor Pietra Rivoli chronicles the round-the-world odyssey of a T-shirt, from Texas cotton-growers to an African used-clothing bazaar, to reveal how the planetary economy really works. Along the way, we see how entrepreneurial U.S. farmers team with government-sponsored researchers--and take advantage of subsidies and trade barriers--to dominate world cotton production. Migrant workers from Chinese family farms tell why they regard low-wage jobs in Shanghai sewing factories as golden opportunities. And only in that African used-clothing bazaar do we encounter a truly free market where entrepreneurs--perhaps including some future tycoons of the 21st century--utterly rely on pure business skills and instinct. Whether you feel hurt or helped by globalization, you'll certainly understand it better after reading this fascinating account." (Entrepreneur Magazine, May 2005

"T-shirts may not have changed the world; but this story is a useful account of how free trade and protection certainly have." (Financial Times) "The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy is an excellent piece of work - a thorough, lucid and (best of all) honest examination of how politics and economics intertwine in the real world." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

"Her nuanced and fair-minded approach is all the more powerful for eschewing the pretense of ideological absolutism, and her telescopic look through a single industry has all the makings of an economics classic." (New York Times)

“…Succeeds admirably… T-shirts may not have changed the world, but this story is a useful account of how free trade and protectionism certainly have.” (Financial Times)

“…a fascinating exploration of the history, economics and politics of world trade…The Travels of a T-Shirt is a thought-provoking yarn that exhibits the ugly, the bad and the good of globalization, and points to the unintended positive consequences of the clash between the proponents and opponents of free trade.” (Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

The Exchange: Recent and Forthcoming Books of Interest: Spring Edition

The Exchange: Recent and Forthcoming Books of Interest: Spring E...:

A sampling of recent and forthcoming books of interest in business and economic history: 

Galbraith on Inequality

While I don't often agree with this pundit, I think more thoughtful attention to the issue of income inequality would be useful.  Students hear about this in other social science courses - sociology and history and a considered application of the costs and benefits of income inequality might well round out the evolving set of public policy choices that have emerged to address inequality.
Galbraith on Inequality | EconTalk | Library of Economics and Liberty

The Case Against Grades

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/05/the_case_against_grades_they_lower_self_esteem_discourage_creativity_and.single.html

Adam Rex and Cold Cereal

The Value of a Community College

The Value of a Community College