In Pursuit of Florida Parrot T-Shirts

Pietra Rivoli‘s Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy is an excellent biography of an unexpected protagonist: her Florida Parrot T-Shirt. From analyzing the institution of slavery as a cotton subsidy to looking at the US used clothing market in East Africa, Rivoli takes a tastefully empirical look at what has led the cotton industry to thrive and exist as it does today.  NPR has even done a three-part audio series inspired by the book.

I think most commendable to her analysis is how she has mentioned that in all of her travels, and in all of her interviews, she did not meet a single bad person.  It suggests the solution to the many conflicts that arise out of all countries cotton subsidies must be much deeper than the everyday people making decisions about what and what not to purchase.

While the book does not offer any solutions to the many dilemmas faced in the global textile trade, it adds a remarkable amount of depth to an often two-dimensional debate.  Rivoli has mentioned one thing she sees as possibly hopeful for removing these engrained cotton handouts is an increase in non market distorting subsidies.  She defined these subsidies as when you pay people to go sit on the beach rather than pay them to produce an excess supply of something that will drive prices down.

While I would guess the idea of a non market distorting subsidy may be contested, it does raise an interesting question.  Ten years from now, might it be easier to push for the end to cotton subsidies if all of the cotton growers are working hard in their feilds, or if they are all off enjoying the beach?

On related issues, Russel Roberts writes on the peculiar relationship between Chinise textile quotas and the WTO.

Birds Eye Lesson in Land Reform

This is an impressive visual of the tragedy of the commons.  The interactive satellite photo compares  communal farmland to private farmland in Zimbabwe over the period of its land redistribution.  It’s significant to note is that this land reform only began around 2000, a few years ago.