Working Bibliography

Hainmueller, Jens. “Consumer Demand for Fair Trade: Evidence from a Multistore Field Experiment.” Stanford Graduate School of Business, 24 June 2014, www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty- research/publications/consumer- demand-fair-trade-evidence- multistore-field-experiment.

This study was conducted by Jens Hainmueller, PhD at the Stanford School of business. It focused on concluding whether or not people are willing to pay more for fair trade brands of coffee. To do this, Hainmueller's study involved putting a generic brand of coffee next to the same coffee with a fair trade label on it next to it in grocery stores throughout the Northeast. What Hainmueller found was that people were willing to pay a small amount more for fair trade coffee, but if the generic coffee was significantly cheaper than the fair trade coffee versus only a small price difference, fair trade coffee sales fell by 30%.

Hainmueller's study helped me write a journal, do my podcast SDA, and has partially provided a bit of direction for my research. Since then, I have observed behavior in those around me, including myself- how do we weigh cost vs ethics?

“Ethical Consumerism.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 21 Feb. 2001, www.theguardian.com/money/2001/feb/22/ethicalmoney1.

This article from The Guardian explains what makes something truly ethical, what defines the practice of ethical consumerism, and touches on the gap between what we say we care about versus our actions.

This is relevant to my topic because my topic is, essentially, studying ethical consumerism and its true definition. I also learned from this article that while a third of the U.K. says they are concerned about ethical consumerism, only 3% of their market is comprised of ethical companies' products. Herein lies the catalyst to the asking of my question: why do we say one thing, and buy the moral opposite of it?

Cotte, Remi Trudel and June. “Does Being Ethical Pay?” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 12 May 2008, www.wsj.com/articles/SB121018735490274425.

This article from the Wall Street Journal talks about the economic benefit of being an ethical company. It starts by stating information on a study they conducted similar to Hainmueller's in that it had the same conclusion: people are willing to pay a slight premium for ethical goods, but favor an unethical choice at a much lower price. It states that when companies reach a certain standard of ethical practice, they are rewarded by increased sales.

I found this article particularly helpful when I needed to back up a statement I made in one of my November journals. It touches on the human psychology behind ethical consumerism as well as the economic side of it.