Mair, Simon orcid.org/0000-0001-5143-8668, Druckman, Angela and Jackson, Tim (2019) Higher Wages for Sustainable Development? Employment and Carbon Effects of Paying a Living Wage in Global Apparel Supply Chains. Ecological Economics. pp. 11-23. ISSN 0921-8009
Abstract
In this paper we explore how paying a living wage in global supply chains might affect employment and carbon emissions: Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 13. Previous work has advocated using wage increases for poorer workers to increase prices for wealthier consumers, thereby reducing consumption and associated environmental damage. However, the likely effects of such an approach remain unclear. Using an input-output framework extended with income and demand elasticities, we estimate the employment and carbon effects of paying a living wage to Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese (BRIC) workers in the Western European clothing supply chain. We find negligible effects on carbon emissions but a substantial increase in BRIC employment under 3 scenarios of consumer behaviour. Changes in Western European consumption lead to small decreases in global carbon emissions and BRIC employment. However, the increase in BRIC wages increases demand in BRIC. This increased demand increases production which largely cancels out the carbon savings and generates net increases in BRIC employment. We conclude by arguing that paying higher wages in global supply chains represents a good but not sufficient step toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Funding Information: We would like to thank Matthew Leach, and Arnold Tukker for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. The paper also benefitted greatly from the comments of two anonymous referees. This work was supported by a joint grant from the UK's Economic and Social Research Council and Natural Environment Research Council , grant number ES/J500148/1 , and the ESRC funded Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity, grant number ES/M010163/1 . Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Authors |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Environment and Geography (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 20 Jul 2022 12:00 |
Last Modified: | 17 Dec 2024 00:23 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.01.007 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.01.007 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:189288 |
Download
Filename: 1_s2.0_S0921800918306591_main.pdf
Description: Higher Wages for Sustainable Development? Employment and Carbon Effects of Paying a Living Wage in Global Apparel Supply Chains
Licence: CC-BY 2.5