Fair trade kaffe har diskuterats i Journal of Economic Perspectives. I somras skrevs en läsvärd artikel av Dragusanu m fl, som på det hela taget var lite mer positiv till Fairtrade än vad ekonomer brukar vara. Mycket riktigt har det nu skrivits en kommentarer av Claar och Haight om att Dragusanu m fl utelämnar en del. Bl a skriver de
Since 2007, the minimum price guar- anteed by Fairtrade International has rarely been binding: coffee prices have been high, so all coffee growers—fair trade or not—have been receiving the market price for their crops.
De påpekar också att det mesta av prispåslaget hamnar samt i mellanhänder och inte hos odlarna.
Avslutningen är hård:
We propose that caring coffee consumers should not waste their money purchasing overpriced coffee that enriches mainly importers, roasters, retailers, and fair trade bureaucrats—in short, everyone but the poor it claims to help. We suggest that the global poor achieve greater, more enduring gains when we purchase the coffee we like most and that fits our budgets best, and entrust our charitable giving not with the fair trade network, but instead with the nongovernment organizations best-positioned to knowledgably and effectively invest directly in the human beings we want most to help.