Over at the Christian Science Monitor, Gene Callahan of the excellent Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) has a article describing how fair trade schemes actually hurt third world residents.
Fair trade props up inefficient producers and pulls resources in people and land from their most efficient, productive uses.
The article, excerpted from FEE’s own publication, the Freeman, may be found at
http://www.csmonitor.com/200
8/0808/p09s02-coop.html