Fairtrade is, like global warming and "sustainable development", one of those things that is drummed into schoolchildren as an unquestioned good. I even live in a "fairtrade county", whatever that means. The news that the Fairtrade movement is not actually managing to help poor farmers at all and may even be harming them is probably not news to many readers of this blog - I see I was critical of the idea as long ago as 2006 and no doubt there are other evil free-marketeers who have been banging on this particulary drum even longer. Tim Worstall's coverage of these new findings is excellent.