Web Note 5.1: Fair Trade Coffee

Tastes, as a shift factor of demand, has a broad meaning. Our tastes might include a concern with the labor or environmental conditions under which a product was made.

Using the slogan "Put your money where your mouth is," Global Exchange asks consumers to buy coffee, tea and chocolate from importers who who do not exploit the workers and small farmers in the lesser developed countries that produce these products.

Some coffee growers, including Várzea da Onça, are careful to preserve the environment on their farms. The Rainforest Alliance inspects and certifies coffee farms that use environmentally sustainable practices and provide habitat for wildlife.

Web Note 5.2: Rent Control

Price ceilings such as rent control keep a market in perpetual disequilibrium. When the price ceiling is below the equilibrium price, quantity demanded exceeds quantity supplied at that price.

A disequilibrium of this sort in a rental housing market means that potential renters would be willing to pay more than the ceiling rental amounts. Landlords may demand various types of under-the-table payments. Thus any city government which wishes to establish rent control must be prepared for the difficulty of administering rent laws.

The Rent Stabilization Board of Berkeley, California, provides a good introduction to the complexity of administering rent control programs.