In 1997, the Princeton economist Paul Krugman wrote an article entitled 'In Praise of Cheap Labour' in the online magazine Slate, suggesting that those concerned about conditions in Third World sweatshops ought to save their tears for a worthier cause. The greatest beneficiaries of free trade, Krugman declared, 'are, yes, Third World workers'. A year earlier, in his book Pop Internationalism, he had given similar advice to those calling for the adoption of tougher standards on wages and working conditions in trade agreements, insisting that these amounted to 'protectionism in the guise of humanitarian concern'.

LRB 19 June 2008 | PDF Download