Abstract

The article studies NGO's successful work on corporate campaigns for higher environmental or labor standards and what applied peace economists may learn from such campaigns. By way of example, the article employs the No Dirty Gold (NDG) as a model. Two main conclusions are offered. First, a corporate campaign is likely to be more successful if a target industry or company has valuable brand names to protect and sells a non-essential product in a marketplace where substitutes are readily available. Second, economists can contribute to the success of such campaigns by using their analytical tools to raise the media profile of a corporate campaign, to reach large numbers of consumers, and to work effectively with corporations that are responsive to the issues raised in the campaign.

Highlights

  • Academic economists have had a great impact on actors in financial marketplaces: the Black-Scholes options-pricing model for instance spawned an industry on Wall Street

  • In a climate of rising prices, the No Dirty Gold” (NDG) campaign could provide a deontological rationale for consumers to avoid buying gold jewelry when the real reason might be that the jewelry seems overpriced by historical standards

  • The NDG campaign has had rapid successes in bring jewelry retailers on board, suggesting that Oxfam America and Earthworks have tapped into a mother lode of influence by appealing to companies that depend on consumers

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Summary

John Tepper Marlin

Academic economists have had a great impact on actors in financial marketplaces: the Black-Scholes options-pricing model for instance spawned an industry on Wall Street. Economists have had trouble in recent years affecting issues of war and peace, even though since Adam Smith many economists have stressed the destructive and wasteful nature of wars. United States military decisions appear to have been made either independently of economic analysis or with such analysis buttressing plans to invade countries with valuable natural resources

Economists had more input
Prior experience in the industry
The clout of buying power down the supply chain
The vulnerability of brands
Industrial structure and countervailing power
Easily articulated and visualized issues
The backdrop of higher gold prices
The synergy of corporate campaigns
What economists can learn from the NDG campaign
Most corporations have a
What economists can contribute
Ideas for economists
Conclusions and recommendations
Full Text
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