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Will fair labor standards cost consumers more money? Blog debates the Apple example.

Written by Heather Clancy, Contributor

Would you buy a "good" iPod -- one made by workers protected by a "fair labor" environment -- if it cost you approximately 25 percent more money?

I probably shouldn't admit that economics was my worst grade at university, but there you go. And that's why I won't try to second-quess the math of Harvard Business blogger Umair Haque (author of their Edge Economy), who writes in this post about whether Apple can continue to be as innovative as it HAS been while toeing the line when it comes to increasingly stringent fair labor standards.

Haque considers the notion of whether or not Apple could sell as many iPods as it does today if it was forced to pay more for the labor needed to produce them. He figures the differential would be about $58 for an iPod Classic. Haque asks:

"Is a 23% price difference between a "Good" and "Evil iPod" worth it — to Apple, society, communities, and our economy? Would Apple's business suffer from charging people $58 more for an iPod? Can we afford to pay 23% for goods made according to higher labour standards?

I think the real question is: how long can we afford not to? The less we invest in one another, the worse off we all are eventually. The higher standards we set for ourselves, the more potential value we can create."

This is not exactly what the U.S. consumer wants to hear right now, especially as they sock away more of their disposable income. But the current economic climate might be exactly the right time to recalibrate supply chain relationships, especially with demand in a holding pattern.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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