On college campuses across the country, there has been an escalating uproar concerning labor conditions in less economically developed regions of the world. Many student organizations—such as the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)—propose to improve the conditions of the world’s poor by boycotting clothing made under the “sweatshop” conditions in which many of these poor labor.1 Such organizations demand that foreign-owned corporations improve the wages and working conditions in poorer regions of the world, and enact boycotts or lobby for legislation that will forcefully implement these initiatives.
Economic theory, however, suggests that such actions are misguided.
