Curiously, some of us don't mind paying more for products where the folks received fair wages. However, consistent sourcing of those products isn't easy.

I'm not sure if it is a niche large enough to be a viable business, however. In some areas, I source as much as I can from local providers - or use my own labor. However, that's probably not realistic for most folks. I'm fortunate enough to have an obscene number of acres and live next to a small family farm.

I'm pretty sure that as a first approximation, globalisation has been the greatest tool ever for pulling people out of poverty. Asia, and China specifically, have seen a remarkable rise in standards of living over the last 20 years.

Of course there's quite a lot of bad behaviour happening among such a dynamic development, but I wouldn't actually worry too much about anything that goes into a car. It's almost all high tech, and really not amendable to be manufactured in sweat shops. Plus car manufacturers are large and brand-conscious, and tend to tightly control their supply chain.

Textiles are at a much higher risk of being manufactured under bad conditions, but even there I believe the race to the bottom is coming to a natural end. Over the last decade, they have moved first to China, then on to Vietnam and now, I believe, indonesia and Cambodia. They're quickly running out of countries with lax labor standards.

Indeed, the distribution and specialization of the supply chain means it's not really possible to "tip" all the way through to the factory line workers at the point of purchase. For similar reasons, it's very hard to apply morality to purchases - not only are any evils in production hidden from view at the point of purchase, but the cross-supply of parts means there's lots of evil in all the products.

Oh, wow... I kinda feel bad for what I'm about to say.

Umm...

You know what might help? Blockchains. This might actually be something that could help with. It'd be an immutable ledger of sources. It'd not be perfect, probably. But, it might help.

A single car has about 30,000 parts[1]. Good luck sourcing those from your local farmer's market, and at a premium.

1. http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/kids/faq/d/01/04/

You might have missed some of the words in my comment. I'm well aware that this isn't possible for all things. I'm not entirely sure that it isn't feasible for more things, however.

Ah yep. My apologies, that probably came across a bit too snarky and disregarded half your comment. I might need to get some more sleep.

It's all good.

Additionally, I'd pay more for something like a Fair Trade automobile. My daily driver is a BMW. I'm pretty sure half the computer components were made by Asian children and/or an abused populous. It's one of the higher end models, nearly six figures, but I'd have happily paid something like 20% more - if it ensured the parts were sourced ethically.

BMW and Porsche used to have a reputation of not trying to squeeze every cent out of their suppliers, and those two used to have the best quality of all German car manufacturers as well. The way they treat their suppliers has reportedly changed, so maybe the latter will also change. It will be interesting to watch. There are occasional reports about such things in the business press.

German auto workers are mostly paid quite well according to collective agreements, similar to low-mid level knowledge workers. And for cars made in Europe, not that many parts are sourced from outside of Europe.