The Exploitation Problem

Some companies exploit the global poor, by paying them meagre wages in return for gruelling work. Many of us believe this is wrong, even when it leaves the exploited better off than they would otherwise have been. Many of us also believe there is no obligation to help the global poor ourselves, for we could do that by giving more to effective charities. But together, these beliefs imply that we ought to let the global poor suffer rather than exploit them, even when they would much rather be exploited. That might seem counterintuitive. I develop this problem, and then offer a new solution.