fast fashion

a) Fast fashion refers to mass production of cheap, stylish clothes. This results in
massive pollution, cheap labour, and bad working conditions.

b) Some negative externalities associated with consumption of clothing. For

example, when the trend is over, people tend to throw their old clothes away, and
start chasing a new trend. This results in massive land and water pollution. Due to
cheap synthetic materials that mass fashion clothes are usually made from, they
decompose for a very long time, which causes dangerous chemical reactions and
releases unpleasant chemicals into the environment.

c) Inexpensive clothes do not damage the consumer, unlike demerit goods like
cigarettes. Cheap clothes benefit the consumer, but damage the others and the
environment. Cigarettes damage the consumer, and that is why they are called
demerit.

d) Some negative externalities associated with the production of clothing are the
safety of the workers, massive water consumption, and pollution. Due to cheap
clothes being produced with involvement of cheap labour, the workers working for
a miserable wage may be exposed to an unsafe working environment. Additionally,
the textile industry requires a lot of water for production of textiles, which has a
negative impact on regions with high water scarcity. This can also destroy
ecosystems. Moreover, factories that produce cheap goods tend to not care about
their pollution output, which pollutes the air around.

e) Governments may establish taxes for harmful producers and incentivize

sustainable practices. This will discourage firms and factories to continue
practicing harmful ways of production, and move to more sustainable practices.
Another way for governments to control the negative externalities of production of
clothes is to establish laws and legislation, and making the firms that break these
laws pay a bill or any other form of punishment.

f)
i. A common barrier that the governments might face when responding to
negative externalities is corruption, economic interests, and technological
constraints. Corruption may be an issue in poor, undeveloped countries due to
poorness and poverty being a common thing. This motivates government officials
and producers to engage in some shady activities, which fight with the laws of
ethics and protecting the environment. Economic interests may be valued higher
than the environmental well-being. Again, in undeveloped countries with massive
amounts of poor people, people are willing to sacrifice their environment for some
extra money. Lastly, conserving the environment and engaging in sustainable
production may require some advanced technology. In undeveloped countries,
there may be not enough budget, or just cheaper and more efficient to produce in
an old fashioned dirty way. Therefore, the idea of conserving the environment is
ignored.

ii. Governments have tried several methods to reduce consumption such as

promotional campaigns, educating children in schools, and taxation of gods.
Promotional campaigns motivate people to conserve the world and consume less.
Educating children in schools teaches the children from a young age that
conserving the environment is important. Taxing the goods reduces the demand,
therefore, less goods are being sold.

iii. Formation of black markets cancels out the implementation of taxes on

some goods, and unawareness and lack of passion in teachers may influence the
education of the children in schools. Due to higher prices on some goods raised
by the governmental tax, black markets may form because people would prefer to
buy the goods at a lower price. In schools, teachers may be unaware and/or not
passionate about conserving the environment, therefore slacking of in educating
the children on that topic.