Fair Trade Investing

What is ‘Fair Trade Investing’

Investing in companies or projects that promote fair trade with producers in developing nations. Basic fair trade philosophies call for equal pay for suppliers of raw goods and materials as well as respect for strong environmental practices and a focus on the trading relationships between advanced economies and developing nations.

Explaining ‘Fair Trade Investing’

Fair trade investing mainly deals with trade in agricultural products, such as coffee, sugar and textiles. Many of the growers of these products are low-income workers who are often marginalized in trade agreements and receive few subsidies from their home governments. Fair trade practices aim to help these workers gain a higher standard of living and financial independence, while the companies who actively promote fair trade can show transparency in their business dealings and gain valuable image points with shareholders.

Further Reading

  • Measuring the impact of fair trade on development – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • Fair value accounting for financial instruments: some implications for bank regulation – papers.ssrn.com [PDF]
  • Fair Trade, Diversification and Structural Change: Towards a broader theoretical framework of analysis: Commentary – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • Mainstreaming and its discontents: Fair trade, socially responsible investing, and industry trajectories – link.springer.com [PDF]
  • Fairtrade and Economic Pro-Poor Growth: A Literature Review – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • An appraisal of the socio-economic impacts and challenges of fair trade among emerging farmers in the Eastern Cape, South Africa – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • Who decides what is fair in fair trade? The agri-environmental governance of standards, access, and price – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]