An empirical study on fair trade : how effective is it on export values?
Please cite this item using this persistent URL
http://hdl.handle.net/11693/15718Collections
Advisor
Pakel, Banu Demir
Publisher
Bilkent University
Abstract
This thesis analyzes an ambitious attempt in the history of trade, Fair Trade
--an initiative that aims at benefiting producers from developing countries through
setting minimum prices, paying producer premiums, allowing them to enter
developed markets, and taking measures for improving productivity. Although Fair
Trade is of increasing importance in both practical and academic areas, the current
study is the first one that formally studies its effects. This thesis studies empirically,
using a unique dataset, whether participation in Fair Trade helps countries increase
their agricultural exports. The empirical results show that the effect exists only in
some cases: participation in Fair Trade can be associated with an increase in the
agricultural exports of middle-income and Latin American countries, but not of other
participating countries. Such a differential effect might be attributed to Latin
American countries’ importance in Fair Trade products, Fair Trade products’ importance to Latin American countries’ exports, and differences in countries’
absorptive capacities.