From the American Jewish World Service Education Module on, "Addressing Global Poverty: International Aid, Debt Relief, and Trade Justice"
Jewish tradition pays great attention to ethics in business and economic life. Indeed, one story relates that the first question one is asked when one arrives in the world to come is, "Did you deal fairly in business?"
In the context of international trade, Jewish tradition offers several guidelines. First, we must practice fairness and honesty in all business dealings. This principle is enshrined in Leviticus:
We are obliged to deal with each other fairly, to use honest weights and measures, and not to take advantage of one another in business.
Second, as consumers, we bear responsibility for the entire chain of economic activity that brings goods and services to us. Not only are we prohibited from dishonest business practices, we are barred from benefiting from others' unethical business practices. We can infer this principle from Rambam's rule about the purcahse of stolen goods:
Even if our immediate transaction takes place honestly, we may not participate in a transaction that supports or perpetuates injustice. While purchasing unfairly traded goods is obviously not equivalent to buying stolen property, consumers clearly have an obligation to investigate the origins of the goods they purchase- we are responsible even for the unintended consequences of our business dealings. Were the people who harvested the coffee you drank this morning paid enough to live? Did the people who sewed your clothing work in safe factories? As Rabbi Yerucham of MIr said:
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| The seismograph has taught us that a tremor in any part of the world can be felt by a sufficiently sensitive instrument everywhere in the world. The same is true of a person’s deeds. One should not think that his actions do not affect others. Everything one does in some way affects everyone else in the world. [Avraham Twerski translation] |
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Third, we are required to treat those who work for us particularly respectfully. Jewish tradition recognizes that laborers usually exert less power than employers.