Henderson on Zwolinski Asks Our Favorite Question.

Matt Zwolinski made a great little Learn Liberty video on sweatshops. David Henderson comments at Econlog. Key question:

I basically like the video, although I have one question and one disagreement. My question is about something he said at the 2:00 point. He says:

So long as sweatshop labor is voluntary, even in the weak sense of being free from physical coercion...

That suggests that there is a stronger sense of "voluntary." I don't know what that sense is. Does anyone reading this post know what that strong sense is? Matt?

That sense is euvoluntary, Professor Henderson. Sweatshop labor is not euvoluntary because of a disparity in BATNA. The alternatives to light manufacturing labor in small economies are truly dismal: subsistence farming (particularly when scrabbling to deal with food aid from abroad), begging, or prostitution just to name a few. There needs be no threat of violence by these employers, just the implicit threat to let them carry on with their otherwise unpleasant circumstances.

As a reminder, here are the conditions needed for an exchange to be euvoluntary:

Conditions for Exchange to be "Euvoluntary"
(1) conventional ownership
(2) conventional capacity to buy/sell
(3) absence of regret
(4) no uncompensated externalities
(5) neither party coerced by human agency
(6) neither party coerced by circumstance; the disparity in BATNAs is not "too large"

I hope this helps to answer your question.