The trade sanctions approach, as I have indicated, is likely to be counterproductive (e.g. by pushing children into worse occupations) and therefore, while inspired by good intentions, could well be wicked in its effects.
DBx: So true.
Trade sanctions are nearly always justified by an alleged need for “us” to help right a wrong committed abroad. Sometimes, as Bhagwati notes, such justifications are issued by people with good intentions but with poor economic understanding. Other times, such justifications are issued by rent-seekers with bad intentions but with correct economic understanding. In both cases, the alleged foreign wrongs are not righted.
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Beware of economically uninformed good intentions … and of economically informed bad intentions.
