Once a pinnacle of luxury clothing found only in high-end fashion stores, by 2006 cashmere sweaters, which typically sold for hundreds of dollars, could be found in big box stores for as little as $20. The reason for this substantial price drop: increased production and competition from China. The cashmere industry has been around for centuries. Historically, however, Chinese and Mongolian herders exported the raw fiber to Europe, where it was spun and converted into clothing. Beginning in the 1980’s, China made a charge toward industrialization and the market economy. One area of rapid growth was the textile industry.
To increase production of cashmere wool, the number of wool-producing goats in Inner Mongolia, home to a vast grassland that the animals can graze on, increased tenfold, from 2.4 million in 1949 to 25.8 million in 2004. This dramatically increased the production of cashmere in China, but not without its consequences. One of the biggest problems, however, is that goats are devastating to the topsoil. The combination of pointy hooves and a voracious appetite leads to a rise in desertification. That is, turning grassland to desert. Over a 5-year period, “the Gobi Desert expanded in size by an area larger than the Netherlands.”
A consequence of this desertification is an increase in dust storms. Over the last several decades, the number and size of dust storms originating in China has grown dramatically. These storms impose a tremendous external cost on the regions through which they travel. One storm, “forced 1.8 million South Koreans to seek medical help and cost the country $7.8 billion in damage to industries such as airlines and semiconductors.” Another storm was so large it traveled around the entire world, causing damage in the US, Europe, and Africa.
Discussion Questions:
- There are several methods for reducing the costs of negative externalities. Why might some of these be difficult to implement at the global level?
- What policies could the Chinese government implement to prevent the Tragedy of the Commons outcome of desertification?
- How can incumbent brands of cashmere clothiers prevent competing on price with the new Chinese producers?
Source: Chicago Tribune “Your cheap sweater’s real cost,” by Evan Osnos.