Business and Economies Programme
What are the impacts of slavery on our economies and how can businesses tackle slavery?
We know that modern slavery exerts a disproportionate drag on economies, inhibiting social and economic development for free people as well as the enslaved. The UK Government’s own analysis calculates the economic cost of modern slavery in the UK at between £3.3 and £4.3 billion. We argue that ending slavery would mean a better economic situation for everyone.
In our Business and Economies Programme, business scholars, economists, sociologists, political scientists, and computer scientists are measuring demand and supply for slave labour, demonstrating slavery’s impact on a country’s economy and economic benefits of ending slavery. Our analyses are revealing the economic value of slavery-free production and making the business, as well as the ethical, case for slavery-free supply chains.
This includes extensive work on slavery in supply chains. We work with partners to change supply chain design in response to findings—from international businesses to local government procurement. Some of our experts also focus on key high-risk sectors for labour exploitation, including social care, car washes, agriculture and construction.
For example, we have created a Modern Slavery Risk Barometer. By incorporating modern slavery risk into the decision-making of global supply chains and investors, we can enable stakeholders to measure their exposure to slavery, measure progress, and build a commercial case for modern slavery prevention. The Barometer helps us understand at which point in the supply chain modern slavery is likely to occur, and so enables businesses to understand the impact of their decisions and allocate resources towards improvement.
Programme experts
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- Rights Lab Associate Director (Business and Economies Programme) and Professor of Supply Chain Management
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- Honorary Rights Lab Professor of Antislavery Policy and Business
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- Rights Lab Professor of Practice in Modern Slavery Policy
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- Rights Lab Professor of Computational Social Science
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- Rights Lab Rights Lab Assistant Professor in Operations Management
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- Rights Lab Lead in Technology and Exploitation and Assistant Professor in Information Systems
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- Rights Lab Senior Research Fellow in Global Regulations and Labour Exploitation
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- Rights Lab Research Fellow in Modelling and Measurement
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- Rights Lab Research Fellow in Anti-Slavery Policy and Governance
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- Rights Lab Associate Professor in Accounting
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- Rights Lab Nottingham Research Fellow in Gender, Activism and the Garment Industry
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- Rights Lab Assistant Professor in Business and Society
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- Rights Lab Associate Professor in Accounting
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- Rights Lab Assistant Professor in Business and Society
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- Rights Lab Associate Professor in Operations Management
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- Rights Lab Professor of Economics
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- Rights Lab Professor of Business and Society
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- Rights Lab Assistant Professor in Organisational Behaviour, Business & Society
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- Rights Lab Associate Professor of Law and Development
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- Rights Lab Visiting Fellow in Modern Slavery Corporate Responses
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- Rights Lab Visiting Fellow in Antislavery Business
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- Rights Lab Visiting Fellow in Anti-Slavery Innovation and Financial Crime Analytics
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- Rights Lab Visiting Professor in Business and Economies
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- Rights Lab Visiting Professor in Migration, Business and Society
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