What qualifies as a sweatshop? Is there one standard definition? Why would someone choose to work in a sweatshop? What are their other alternatives? What happens when companies are made to pay their sweatshop workers more?

Benjamin Powell discusses the economics of sweatshop labor. He argues that the anti-sweatshop movement’s policies actually tend to harm the very workers they intend to help.

Show Notes and Further Reading

Powell’s book Out of Poverty: Sweatshops in the Global Economy (2014).

Powell’s Learn Liberty videos on sweatshops and immigration are well worth watching:

“Sweatshop Wages and Third-World Workers: Are the Wages Worth the Sweat?”“The Unbelievable Truth about Sweatshops”“Top Three Myths about Immigration”“Economics of Immigration: Myths and Realities”

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