Benjamin Powell provides a comprehensive defence of Third World sweatshops that does not put economic efficiency over people, but instead explores methods of improving the welfare of those in Third World countries. He explains how sweatshops provide the best opportunity for workers; and how they play an important role in development, leading to better wages and working conditions. Using economic theory, empirical evidence, and historical investigation, Powell argues that the anti-sweatshop movement would harm the very workers it intends to help by creating less-desirable alternatives and undermining development. Dr. Powell also explores how sweatshop wages have changed and how poverty alleviation has progressed in countries with sweatshops in the late 1990s and early 2000s and how boycotting Uyghur forced labor in China differs from other sweatshop boycotts.

Benjamin Powell is the executive director of the Free Market Institute and a professor of economics in the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business Administration. Ben’s research and teaching interests include the economics of immigration and the economics of sweatshop labor. His research contributes to scholarly literatures in Austrian economics, public choice, and institutional economics. Ben is the author, editor, or co-editor of several books and he has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed scholarly articles and policy studies. His research findings have been reported in hundreds of popular press outlets including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He also writes frequently for the popular press. His popular writing has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, New York Post, The Dallas Morning News and many other outlets. He has appeared on numerous radio, podcast, and television programs on networks including Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and Showtime. He was a regular guest commentator on Fox Business Network's Freedom Watch and Stossel. Ben teaches an undergraduate course in Global Business Economics and Policy and a graduate course in Austrian Economics.

Ryan Yonk is is the Director of Education and Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research.  He holds a PhD from Georgia State University and a MS and BS from Utah State University. Prior to joining AIER he held academic positions at North Dakota State University, Utah State University, and Southern Utah University, and was one of the founders of the Strata Policy. He is the (co) author or editor of numerous books including Green V. Green, Nature Unbound: Bureaucracy vs. the Environment, The Reality of American Energy,  and Politics and Quality of Life: The Role of Well-Being in Political Outcomes. He has also (co) authored numerous articles in academic journals including Public Choice, The Independent Review, Applied Research in Quality of Life, and the Journal of Private Enterprise. His research explores how policy can be better crafted to achieve greater individual autonomy and prosperity.

Bradley Hobbs is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Economics. He was also the Hayek Visiting Scholar at the SISC from 2012 - 2013. Before coming to Clemson University, Hobbs helped start Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. He taught both economics and finance at FGCU for over nineteen years and served as the first BB&T Distinguished Professor of Free Enterprise from 2000 - 2016. Hobbs currently serves as a Research Fellow at the James Madison Institute, sits on the Academic Advisory Board for The Bastiat Society, and is a voting member of the American Institute for Economic Research. He is also a former President of the Association of Private Enterprise Education and a long-time member of the Mont Pelerin Society. Hobbs earned his B.A. in History and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Florida State University. His research interests include property rights, economic freedom, economic growth, financial markets, and the philosophic foundations of markets. Hobbs' articles and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of journals, including Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, the Journal of Accounting and Finance Research, Laissez-Faire, the Journal of Economics and Finance Education, the Journal of Private Enterprise, the Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, and Research in Finance. He is currently working on a book project promoting humanism through classical liberalism.