ASU to Host Guest Presentation on Global Poverty and Sweatshops

SAN ANGELO, TX — Angelo State University will host Dr. Benjamin Powell, director of the Texas Tech University Free Market Institute, for a public lecture on sweatshops and global labor practices Tuesday, Sept. 9, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 100 of the ASU Mathematics-Computer Science Building, 2200 Dena Drive.

Powell, who also serves as a professor of economics in Texas Tech’s Rawls College of Business, will present “Out of Poverty: Sweatshops in the Global Economy.” The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Free Market Institute at Angelo State.

The lecture will provide an in-depth economic defense of Third World sweatshops and their role in improving living conditions for workers. Powell will use economic theory, data and historical context to argue that such jobs, while controversial, often offer better alternatives compared to local labor markets and contribute to long-term development and wage growth.

He will also address how anti-sweatshop efforts may unintentionally harm workers by limiting their best available options. The talk will include discussion on wage trends, poverty alleviation in sweatshop-hosting countries in the 1990s and 2000s, and how boycotting forced Uyghur labor in China differs from broader anti-sweatshop movements.

Powell’s academic focus includes immigration economics and labor policy. He has authored or edited several books and published more than 75 peer-reviewed articles and policy studies. His research has been featured in major outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Dallas Morning News, and he has made numerous appearances on national media, including Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC.

The Free Market Institute at ASU, supported by $1 million in anonymous donations, aims to advance research and education in free enterprise and market-based economics. The institute also supports community and student engagement programming as part of the Norris-Vincent College of Business.

This event is among several supported by ASU’s ongoing “Leading the Charge” capital campaign, which prioritizes funding for initiatives like the university’s Distinguished Speaker Series. More information is available at angelo.edu/leading-the-charge or by calling 325-942-2116.